


i'm not him (but i'll mean something to you)

by smoakoverwatch



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Angst, F/M, do you trust me?, season 5 rewrite
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-06-20 19:25:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 61,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15541305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smoakoverwatch/pseuds/smoakoverwatch
Summary: In the summer after Damien Darhk’s attack, Felicity meets the new District Attorney, Adrian Chase, and begins dating him. As Prometheus begins his war against Oliver and Team Arrow, Felicity feels the effects worst as she unknowingly allows Chase into her heart.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all. I’ve had this idea percolating for longer than I care to admit. I firmly believe that Adrian Chase was Arrow’s best villain, but I think this added element would have made him a touch more frightening.
> 
> Disclaimer: I’m sure I’m not the only person who had this idea, so I’m really sorry if I step on anyone’s toes here. I deliberately didn’t go looking for other fics because I was worried of unconsciously absorbing other people’s ideas and putting it here. I just wanted to explore my take on things.
> 
> Disclaimer the second: Though Adrian is a villain and was canonically very violent, this story will /NOT/ contain any relationship abuse. I just wanted to clarify – that’s not something I can write now or probably ever. 
> 
> Disclaimer the third: This is a season 5 rewrite, a season which for a lot of us was really hard to watch. I didn’t want to meticulously go through each ep so I’ve breezed through 5A in two parts while still keeping the major plot points. I know I played with Adrian’s introduction into the fold here (it’s 5x03 on the show, sooner for me), but just roll with it. We’ll have fun, I promise.
> 
> Disclaimer the fourth: Please remember that when this starts (post s4), Olicity are in a terribly disconnected place and Felicity is going through a lot, emotionally (so is Oliver, but this is in her POV). Just stick with me and trust that it’ll be worth it. 
> 
> I’ve rambled on for long enough. I hope you enjoy this. 
> 
> (Fic title is from Nikes by Frank Ocean)

All in all, it hadn’t been Felicity’s year.

Or that’s what she would say to justify the whole ordeal, later, when things regained their normalcy.

At the time, though, it did feel like a relentlessly overwhelming few months.

Oliver was scrambling as the new mayor of Star City. With everyone else out of town, the two of them were working endlessly to keep the Team Arrow operations running smoothly. Felicity was burning the candle at both ends, because, since Havenrock, she and sleep had a bit of a precarious relationship most nights.

That week had been particularly grueling. One doesn’t exactly _plan_ to get drunk and have (admittedly, fantastic) sex on the mats of your vigilante lair with your ex-fiancé-but-still-friend-or-colleague-depending-on-the-day.

But when one is Felicity Smoak, and that ex-fiancé is Oliver Queen, then, well, she should have seen it coming.

Oliver’s heartbroken expression followed her around all of that week. It felt like every time she blinked she saw the way he perched on his arms, looking up at her with hopeful, pleading eyes, ready to start life with her again the moment she said the word.

But she didn’t. She _couldn’t_. She rushed off with a promise that eventually they’d have that talk he’d asked for since their fake wedding – a talk she wasn’t sure she would ever have the capacity for.

The truth was, she loved Oliver. He broke her heart and her trust, but a part of her knew that she would never stop loving him. A part of her accepted that Oliver was it for her, that she would never find anyone who would enter her heart so perfectly. That their great, whirlwind romance that lasted just under a year would be that, and she would have to live only with the memories and hopes of what could have been.

And it was _because_ she loved him that she kept agreeing to meet him at City Hall, despite the press endlessly speculating where their relationship was at – and relentlessly insisting that no two people who were once halfway up the altar could still be friends.

Well, tough, Felicity thought, they were making it work just fine.

Most days.

Today, she was rushing through the now-familiar halls because Oliver insisted that the minute his new Green Arrow suit modifications came in, she should let him know.

By now, his staff barely blinked when Felicity would breeze through Oliver’s office. There was one new intern, Felicity noted — there was a new one every week— who gawked at Felicity before a supervisor gave her a shove towards a filing cabinet.

It would be funny, Felicity thought, if it weren’t so invasive.

She was just about to breeze into the office – his receptionist didn’t stop her, so he wasn’t in a meeting or anything – when the door swung open.

Out stepped an unfamiliar man, with neat dark hair and a smile.

Felicity took an uncertain step back, feeling a little unbalanced in her black heels.

“Sorry –” she started, but the man gave her a laugh, one that made the corner of his eyes crinkle.

“Slow down there, Ace,” he drawled, “Where’s the fire?”

“I had a meeting,” she explained, “With O—Mayor Queen.”

The man gave her another look, and slowly recognition dawned over his face as he realized that she was _that_ girl – the ex, the not-friend-friend, the definite gold digger living in her former fiancé’s place, whatever the word on the street was that day.

(The word on the street was not very forgiving for her – but pretty generous to Oliver – even if they weren’t even close to figuring out what really happened)

“Of course,” he said, stepping aside, holding the door open with one hand, “Right this way, Miss Smoak, I’m sure he’s been waiting for you.”

Felicity obliged, feeling his eyes on her as she entered. Oliver was seated at his desk, apparently too distracted to notice the conversation occurring at his office door.

She wasn’t sure what prompted it. Normally, she had no problem with people’s assumptions about her and her personal life. It had, after all, been happening for years. She knew from experience that making any kind of comment – denial or otherwise – usually made things worse.

Still, she twisted around on her heel, where she knew this man was standing.

“It’s not like that,” she said, silently proud of herself for not sounding as defensive as she feared.

“Of course,” the man replied innocently, “I’ll see you around, Miss Smoak.”

He enunciated the _k,_ before giving her one more unreadable look and wandering off.

Felicity closed the door to the office and walked towards Oliver’s desk.

“I see you met the new district attorney,” Oliver commented, still not looking up from what he was reading, and Felicity got the impression that he wasn’t as distracted as he lead on earlier.

“New DA?” she looked over her shoulder to where the man stood.

“Adrian Chase,” Oliver answered, holding up the paper, “This is his file. The city wanted us to meet today, but I completely forgot to mention to you.”

“No worries,” she said, “I won’t be long. There aren’t any updates from Central City, but Barry seems like he’s being unusually _hush-hush_ about stuff, so I’m going to give him another try. Cisco sent the suit in with the requested modifications and said to let him know if it doesn’t fit. Oh, and I finally ordered a replacement server and it should be here later this week.”

Oliver blinked at her one-breath-briefing (as she used to call them when she had to crash-course him on all his skipped meetings as Queen Consolidated’s CEO).

“Awesome,” he said simply, “Thanks.”

It felt like a dismissal, which sat unwell in Felicity’s stomach.

She stood up and ran a hand up and down the strap of her purse.

“I – uh, I was just wondering if you had time to eat? Maybe… We could grab some lunch?” as soon as the words left her mouth, Felicity regretted them. The memory of the last time they shared a meal was still very much so imprinted into her brain, and undoubtedly into Oliver’s.

To his credit, Oliver didn’t give away anything in his expression that revealed that he shared any of the embarrassment she felt. Instead, he gave a wince.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “I’ve actually scheduled a lunch with a member of the city council. I really need his support on something. I was just about to leave.”

Felicity nodded, possibly a little more vigorously than she should have.

“No problem. I just – already had plans with Curtis, so I thought you could come, too.” Lie. “Next time.”

“Definitely,” he said, giving a sort of sympathetic smile that made her excuse feel paper thin.

“I’ll see you later, then,” she said, and before he could respond she rushed out of the office, the rapid click of her heels echoing against the tile.

When she exited City Hall and paused on the outside steps, she felt like she could breathe again.

“Hello again, Ace,” Adrian said, leaning against the outer wall of the building, phone balanced under his thumbs as he rapidly typed away what Felicity could only assume was work related.

“Hi,’ she said cautiously. She didn’t expect him to be out here.

“I didn’t get a chance to properly introduce myself,” he pushed off the wall to walk towards her, tucking his phone inside his pocket, “That was rude of me. Adrian Chase.”

He held out his hand, and for a moment Felicity just looked at it.

As if sensing her hesitation, he gave her another easy smile, the kind that took over his whole face and made his eyes crinkle.

She blinked the strange feeling she got at the sight away.

“Felicity Smoak,” she said finally, realizing her silence was probably rude. She took his hand and shook it once. It was after she said her name that she remembered that he already knew it – he called her Miss Smoak in Oliver’s office.

“I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other,” Adrian said, “I should get going.”

He walked down the steps of City Hall without a backwards glance.

As Felicity found herself caught watching his retreating figure, her phone buzzed in her hand.

_Sorry about lunch. Need to follow lead tonight in the bunker at 9. I’ll bring Pad Thai._

So, no, apparently Oliver _did_ forget about the last time they shared a meal together.

Or he was just a glutton for punishment.

(Pun intended)

* * *

Adrian Chase’s parting words on that day seemed to be true.

Whether or not he intended it, she did end up running into him often at City Hall. It was usually in between meetings, or days where she spent a little too much time at Oliver’s office because, well, there wasn’t much for a recently laid-off CEO such as herself to do.

She was regretting being so harsh with Oliver when he needed business school training a few summers ago – at least he had made efforts to gain his company back. All she did was hang out with her ex – and only friend, at the moment – and spend time in her increasingly messy loft.

The more she ran into Adrian Chase, the more they got talking. It started out with small talk, usually initiated by Adrian, until they started crossing paths so often that they had common ground.

One day, she was on her way out of Oliver’s office with an invitation in her hand, to a fundraiser his team was running.

Oliver gave it to her with an impressive amount of nonchalance that Felicity envied.

“It’s next Saturday,” he said, “It’s supposed to be a big deal because it’s my first big event as the Mayor. If you’re free, stop by.”

So that was that. It wasn’t exactly a heartfelt _it would mean a lot to me if you came_ , but Felicity could take it for what it was.

An olive branch. A chance for them to finally work towards _moving on_ instead of just saying they were moving on.

But that didn’t mean she wanted to go. Or rather, that didn’t mean she would be able to handle the whole night.

Not without Diggle – who made official events for Oliver so much easier. The event didn’t specify a plus one, so Felicity doubted that she could swing Curtis a spot. Though, Oliver would probably make it happen for her if she asked.

She sighed, walking towards what she knew was the good washroom in City Hall before making the trip home.

She caught Adrian in the hall, balancing a heavy looking black folio with overflowing legal documents.

“Hey, Felicity,” he said, “The Mayor’s office is the other way.”

She smiled and gave a half wave, the invitation flapping in her hand.

“I was just leaving,” she said, “You going to see him?”

Adrian once made a joke that they were Oliver’s rotating door of visitors. It certainly felt like that most days.

“Nah,” he said, “I had another meeting. I was just on my way to grab some lunch.”

Felicity resisted the urge to groan. Lunch sounded so good right then – she had spent a late night in the lair eating cold takeout and skipped breakfast that morning.

“Hey,” he said suddenly, “Have you eaten? You can join me if you’d like.”

It was an innocent invitation – clearly not a date, because it was so spur of the moment, and casual, and it was _lunch_ , not dinner.

That rationale was why Felicity felt comfortable saying –

“I’d love to grab a bite.”

* * *

They ended up in this little bistro, one that she had been to a couple times with Oliver and Thea during the campaign.

Adrian was easy conversation. Maybe it was the lawyer in him that carried things easily, but Felicity appreciated it.

“So, Felicity,” he said, twisting a fork in his pasta, “What are you up to when you’re not helping our Mayor run the city?”

Felicity smiled at his usual joke, but then frowned when she realized that she didn’t exactly have an answer.

He knew about her losing Palmer Tech – everyone knew, and no press let her forget it.

She could hardly explain that she was dreaming of starting her own company under the same vision she couldn’t execute at PT.

She couldn’t tell him the way her hands shook any time she tried to fill out her incorporation papers, or the way she’d promise herself she’d set up meetings for herself but would spend the day in bed, blackout curtains drawn so she could sleep until Oliver called her for help.

No, she couldn’t explain any of that. Not unless she wanted him to burst out of his chair and run for the hills.

Instead, she shrugged.

“Doing a little soul searching,” she cringed internally at how very eighteen-year-old that sounded, “I was pretty nonstop from college to work, so I’m taking some time to figure out what it is I want to do next.”

There. That sounded like a normal answer, right? People took breaks in between jobs all the time. Sure, most people didn’t have the cushy CEO severance package to support themselves, and most people probably didn’t make as many excuses as Felicity was making for herself.

“That sounds good,” Adrian said. She appreciated that there was not a trace of fake sympathy in his voice, or any giveaway that he thought she was as much of a failure as she felt most days.

“What about you?” she asked, quickly trying to steer the conversation away from herself, “What made you want to get into law?”

Adrian pursed his lips for a moment.

“I’ve always liked the idea of justice,” he said vaguely, “And I like being able to use the law to help people who have been wronged.”

Felicity nodded, her eyes trailing over to the table as she contemplated how different his answer was to her own night job – they helped people who had been wronged by working very much so _outside_ the law.

She wondered how he would feel about that.

“I saw you had an invite to Saturday’s dinner,” Adrian commented, switching gears while Felicity was still contemplating his previous answer.

She shook herself out of it.

“Yeah,” she said, pushing some of the leaves in her salad around the plate, “Oliver gave me an invite, but I’m not sure if I’ll go yet. Are you going to be there?”

“Yeah, the DA’s office usually goes. Why don’t you want to go? I thought you and Oliver were close.”

He said it simply, without any judgement or any insinuation that others would give. Still, it made Felicity shift uncomfortably in her seat.

“We are,” she agreed, “I won’t know anyone else there, and he’ll be busy all night, schmoozing and what not. I think I’ll just spend the night bored while everyone gossips about why I even came.”

The ramble caught her off guard – she had gotten much better at keeping things under wraps at times, but something about this lunch had made her defences lower a little. She internally cursed.

“Screw ‘em,” Adrian said simply, reaching for a sip of his ice water, “You can sit with me. We’ll spend the night figuring out which people are trying to kiss which ass.”

Felicity pursed her lips, considering it for a moment. She’d only known Adrian for a short amount of time, but he was fun to be around and would make the dinner easier to get through.

“Okay,” she said.

“Great,” Adrian leaned back in his seat with a grin, one that she found herself matching, “So, should I pick you up at 6:30?”

Felicity’s smile dropped at the same time as her heart.

“Oh,” she said, her mouth falling open, “I – I didn’t realize –”

Adrian, sensing her discomfort, started to shake his head.

“I’m sorry,” he said quickly, “That was a little forward of me. If you’re not comfortable that’s okay.”

Felicity watched him as the tightness in her chest started to ease.

“It’s okay,” she said, “I just wasn’t expecting that.”

She had to stop being like this – scared, panicky, on edge – all the time. And the only way to move on was to really move on.

“6:30 sounds perfect,” she said, forcing a small smile.

Adrian grinned.

Felicity fought off the guilty feeling that crept up on her. It wasn’t a date – he never said anything like that, and both of them would have gone to the dinner anyway. If anything, it was just carpooling.

There – she was just being environmental.

Still. It was difficult to fight the nagging in her chest.

* * *

Saturday came far sooner than Felicity would have liked.

Oliver’s busy schedule picking up in the week meant that he hadn’t had time for Green Arrowing, which meant Felicity spent a lot of time at home. It also meant she didn’t run into Adrian, who now had her phone number and had been sending her sporadic text messages throughout the week and leading up to the fundraiser.

She got ready with just a touch of nervousness. Her hands shook as she applied her mascara and adjusted the straps of her dress.

The dress was an old one – something she’d worn at some point, during her executive assistant days. It was plain black, boat necked, and stopped right above her knees. In Felicity’s opinion, through years of research accumulated through a _lot_ of work functions, it was the perfect dress to go under the radar for the night.

She paired the dress with a simple pair of earrings and bracelet and slipped on her heels just as the door rang.

6:29. Adrian Chase was looking to be everything that Oliver was not – that is to say, he was very punctual.

Felicity could get used to that.

His car was parked on the street outside her loft. It was a sleek, black sedan that didn’t _scream_ flashy lawyer’s salary, even though Felicity could tell from the logo on the front that would be the only way he could afford it.

Adrian was like something out of a gentleman’s handbook. He opened the door for her and helped her in, that same easy smile glued on his face as he complimented her with an appropriate, “You look nice.”

They made small talk on the car ride over. Felicity felt her nerves ease some as he told her about one of the cases that ate up his time at work that week.

There was a small bundle of press milling about outside and in. The lingering photographers outside were who Felicity recognized as the kind who didn’t get clearance in, but they stayed behind just to get a glimpse of… something. Felicity wasn’t sure what.

These kinds of reporters weren’t exactly on the hard hitting political beat.

A few heads turned as Adrian opened the door for Felicity and handed his keys over to a waiting valet. If there was an increase in camera shutters as they walked inside, then, well, Felicity did her best to ignore them.

As if sensing she had arrived, Felicity’s phone buzzed with texts from Oliver.

7:02 pm: _I’m upstairs in one of the hotel meeting rooms rehearsing my speech._

7:02 pm: _Whenever you get here._

Felicity looked at the messages. With Oliver, tone was always impossible to detect over text message. She had no idea if his message was simply ‘I know you’ll get bored, you can hide upstairs with me’ or ‘I need your help SOSOS’ (which was what she would say).

Either way, she figured she could go upstairs for a moment. She sent him a quick message that she’d just arrived and that she’d make her way up in a few minutes.

Adrian didn’t seem to notice her texting, instead finding their tables.

“Looks like we got put on the same table,” he said happily, “That Mayor knows what he’s doing.”

Felicity pursed her lips. It seemed that Oliver had noticed Adrian and Felicity’s increasing acquaintance. Maybe he heard about their lunch the other day – the picture had circulated on Twitter for an hour before more interesting news picked up.

She tried not to unpack any of that further.

“I’ll be right back,” she told Adrian vaguely.

He nodded in understanding.

“Meet you at the table,” he said, walking into the hall and leaving her in the lobby.

Felicity found the room Oliver was set up in pretty easily.

He was alone, a laptop set up on the table and a few different papers spread about. He was half dressed, tuxedo jacket on a hanger and his bowtie undone around his neck.

“Hey,” he said, setting his speech down when she came in, “Thanks for coming up. Do you think I can run my speech by you?”

“Of course,” she pulled one of the chairs and settled down, running a hand over the skirt of her dress.

She tried not to notice the way Oliver spared her only the smallest passing glance when she came in, or how he didn’t bother to look her in the eye as he asked she listen to his speech.

Not being able to look one another in the eye when they were supposed to be making more efforts to find normalcy made it kind of hard to do just that.

She bit back her frustration. He was probably just nervous. Big speeches always made Oliver clam up a little and act unlike himself.

He ran through his speech twice – the first time he messed up and got frustrated with himself and insisted on starting again, even when she advised him _countless_ times to power through any mistakes when he rehearsed.

God forbid he listened to her every now and again.

He only got halfway through his third rehearsal before one of his staff members poked through the door and told him that it was time for him to go down.

“I should probably go first,” Felicity said as he started tying his tie in preparation.

Oliver gave her a blank look, as though he didn’t understand her urgency.

“It just,” she twisted her hands together, “If we enter together people might get the wrong idea… about… Y’know…”

Oliver nodded slowly, his expression shuttering and his fingers rubbing together – the only thing that gave away that he felt _anything_ as hard as Felicity had been feeling.

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” she took a blind step towards the door, “I’ll see you down there! Good luck with the speech, you’ll be fine. Just try not to get caught up in your mistakes, be confident. You’ll be great.”

“Got it,” he said, throwing her a small smile that made her grip on the doorknob falter for a second, “Thank you, again, Felicity.”

“Any time,” she said, returning his smile, and reaching up to push back her glasses nervously – before remembering that she wore contacts tonight.

She went back downstairs, head kept low as she dodged scrambling volunteers and nosy stragglers.

Her assigned table was close to the podium where Oliver would speak, but not so close that she would be uncomfortably craning her neck. All the other guests were seated, and Adrian had an empty chair next to him that Felicity assumed was for her.

As she approached, she saw a neat name card with Felicity Smoak printed on it that confirmed her guess.

“Hi, sorry about that,” she said quietly once she approached the table. Adrian craned his head up and immediately smiled at her, standing up to pull her chair back.

“Thanks,” she said quietly.

Adrian quickly introduced her to everyone else at the table – they all seemed to be people from the DA’s office or worked in law enforcement.

Conversation carried on easily without her, and given the size of the group it was easy for her to blend into the background

Adrian talked _a lot,_ she learned, maybe as much as she did when she was feeling up to it. He discussed a case with one of the assistant district attorneys while keeping a hand on the back of her chair.

Occasionally, if she went too long without nodding along or giving a little hum in response, Adrian would lean over and throw a little “What do you think, Felicity?”, lips upturned in a little smirk.

She didn’t know if she appreciated his attempts to include her or hated them.

Conversation came to a halt when Oliver entered, and he was all smiles and handshakes to anyone who approached him.

Felicity watched him from her seat. Over the years she got to know Oliver, she’d seen so many different sides of him. This one was still pretty new to her, the charismatic politician who no one could guess had to wipe his sweaty palms between speech rehearsals earlier.

His speech was flawless, of course. He held the crowd perfectly as he spoke, not a single person stopping to even sip their drink. Felicity couldn’t focus on the words – she’d heard them so many times that they blended into the background.

Instead, she found herself sucked into his expression. The way his eyes lit up as he spoke about all the things he loved in Star City, the shy way he lowered his eyes when everyone laughed at his jokes, and the unreal, pure look of _glee_ when he finished and the applause around the room was deafening.

Of all the sides of Oliver she’d gotten to know over the years, this one was quickly cracking the top three.

After his speech, Oliver began making his way around the room and appetizers started to get served.

“That was a good speech,” Adrian commented, plucking tooth picked appetizer off a passing waiter’s tray.

“It was,” Felicity answered vaguely, her eyes following Oliver, “Especially since he was so nervous earlier.”

The last bit slipped out. It was more of a musing thought she wanted to keep to herself, she wouldn’t admit to anyone how Oliver got before public appearances, that wasn’t fair to him.

“Ah,” Adrian gave a little chuckle, “So you _did_ go to see him.”

Felicity froze, tearing her eyes away from Oliver for a moment. She felt caught, even if she didn’t do anything wrong.

“Yes. Not like that –” she _had_ to stop being so defensive all the time, it wasn’t helping her case, “I just went up there to help him rehearse.”

“Hey, I get it,” Adrian said calmly, “You guys are friends. You don’t have to worry, Felicity.”

Something in his reassurance, in the way his blue eyes rounded in concern made her relax.

“Right,” she said, “Sorry, it’s just…”

She waved around the whole room. She didn’t even know what she meant – the people, the media, _Oliver_ himself.

“I get it,” he said, “Just try and enjoy yourself. Hungry?”

He gestured to one of the passing waiters.

“Starving, actually,” she said, tucking her hair to one side.

* * *

The rest of the fundraiser went well. Felicity never got to speak to Oliver, because any time she got close he looked too busy and she didn’t want to bother him.

Near the end of the night, Adrian approached her with a regretful frown.

“My boss just told me we need to get back to the office,” he said, his voice a far cry from its usual jovial tone, “Something came up. I’m so sorry to cut your night short, but if you’re ready to leave now I can drop you off?”

Felicity frowned. She knew for a fact that Adrian’s office wasn’t too far from the hotel they were currently at.

“Wait, you’re going to drive all the way to my place and then back here?” she shook her head, “No, that’s crazy. Don’t worry about me, I’ll call a cab.”

“It’s not a big deal,” he brushed off, “I feel bad, I was your ride here and I can’t just bail.”

“Adrian, seriously, it’s fine,” she smiled when his eyes rounded again and his mouth twisted into what, on anyone else, would be a pout, “You can wait with me until the cab gets here, if it makes you feel better.”

Adrian bit the inside of his cheek, contemplating.

“Okay.”

She pulled her phone out to find an Uber. Adrian, following her suggestion, waited with her by the curb outside the hotel.

His foot tapped against the pavement as they waited, his entire body moving with the action.

“If your boss wants you to get going now…” she said, misreading the movement as impatience.

“It’s not that,” he said with a grimace, and then, under his breath, he cursed, “This wasn’t supposed to happen this way.”

“Adrian?”

He gave a little twisted smile.

“I was supposed to take you home, make sure you get home safe, all of that,” he said with a little wave of his hand, “And then, I would have asked you…”

Alarm bells went off in her head.

 “Asked me…” Felicity felt lightheaded. Panic started to rise in her chest.

“I would have asked if you wanted to have dinner,” he said finally, with a sheepish smile, “With me. As a date.”

Felicity’s mouth felt dry, and the fear bubbled in her chest, making her heart beat wildly against her ribs.

She started shaking her head back and forth almost involuntarily.

“Adrian… I can’t…”

The words weren’t coming. Instead, she just felt _guilt_ , so much guilt.

“If I led you on,” she continued, crossing her shaking arms over one another and pulling them against her chest, “That wasn’t my intention. Seriously, I’m –”

Adrian raised his hand and gently put it on her crossed arms.

“I understand,” he said slowly, “Why you feel like you shouldn’t. I know what happened, _everyone_ does. If you’re not ready to move on just yet, that’s okay. I just think…”

He paused, pursing his lips together.

“I just think I could make you as happy as you deserve to be.”

Felicity wasn’t sure when he moved so close. She could feel the tips of her heels touching his dress shoes. His gaze held her in place, looking at her with an intensity she only ever recognized from one other person.

His thumb, still on her bare arm, moved back and forth once against her skin. The gesture brought her back to earth.

“One dinner,” she said, though her throat had gone so dry that she could only shape the words with her mouth.

Adrian smiled, and her stomach flipped with something – more guilt, or worse yet, excitement.

A car pulled up to the curb.

“I believe that’s your ride, Ace,” Adrian said gently, “I’ll see you at City Hall on Monday, I assume?”

Felicity nodded. Before she could respond, he threw her arms around her in a light hug.

She froze, hands in the air. As the warm softness of him leaned lightly against her, she found herself _wanting_ it. Her hands fell on his back, and before she knew it, he pulled away.

They didn’t exchange anymore words as she climbed in the Uber.

The whole car ride home, Felicity tried to remember the last time someone hugged her like that.  

* * *

There were no words to describe Felicity and Adrian’s date.

Which made it sound far more spectacular than it was, but it was just that. There were no words, because the usually very wordy Felicity Smoak’s mind was far too gone in overdrive to form any coherent opinions on it.

In the few days leading up to their dinner – she preferred calling it dinner _so much more_ than date – Felicity had gone through no less than ten stages of emotions. There was the doubt, confusion, horrible, wracking guilt, and the underlying buzzing under her skin that told her maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea.

She’d almost cancelled twice. She nearly faked sick the morning of. She nearly _was_ sick by lunch time.

Still, she managed to get ready with relative composure. She wore a navy blue work dress she always felt comfortable in, wore her hair down but kept her glasses on.

Adrian picked her up on time, as she was learning was his normal, and drove them to a place that was a little away from the busyness of the city.

She appreciated the chance to get away.

The food – Italian, she tried not to laugh – was decent, and the company was better.

Adrian got them through their appetizers by discussing work, but as their plates cleared and they waited for his entrée, he took a sip of his drink and raised an eyebrow.

“So, should we talk about it?”

Felicity blinked.

“What?”

“You’re nervous,” he said simply, “And we both know why. I didn’t want to sound like a jealous asshole about it, but I can tell it’s bothering you. I just want you to know, if you need someone to talk to…”

Felicity shook her head.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I really want to be here, I swear. It’s just…”

“Don’t apologize,” he said easily, “I understand.”

“The last guy I went on a date with, well, you work with him now, you know how it went,” she laughed once, a hollow sound that hadn’t had weight in months. “Engaged. Almost married. Still friends. The whole thing.”

“You thought you’d never have a first date again, I get that,” Adrian shrugged, “Can I confess something?”

Felicity nodded.

“I was married,” he said, “Four years ago, just for a year, and then we broke it off.”

Felicity raises her eyebrows.

“What happened?”

Adrian’s face twisted up into an expression of pain.

“My father died,” he said, looking at the tablecloth for the first time, “It was… sudden. I wasn’t in a good place. We weren’t working.”

“I’m sorry,” Felicity said.

Adrian looked up, his eyes slightly glassy, but he smiled anyway.

“Thank you,” he responded, “I’m okay now. I’m learning to move forward.”

Felicity nodded, thinking about what he said for a moment. She had been trying for months to move forward – from the pain of the past eight months, from Oliver – and, with how little progress she had been making, it felt like she would never get there.

“Boy, we sure know how to keep dinner conversation light, don’t we,” Felicity joked with an uncomfortable chuckle, hoping to ease some of the heaviness that suddenly found its way into the air.

Adrian managed a little smile, and the response he had ready was stopped by the arrival of their entrees.

Once the waiter left, he raised his glass and tipped it towards her.

“To moving on?”

Felicity smiled and tapped her glass against his.

* * *

The rest of dinner carried on far easier than before. They landed on lighter topics, childhoods, school, popular culture – where Felicity accidentally told him she would _have_ to sit him down for a Lord of the Rings marathon and blushed herself fierce in a way that made Adrian laugh.

They skipped dessert, with a somehow unspoken agreement that would be something for _next time._ Felicity didn’t know if it terrified her or excited her.

The drive home was quiet, but not uncomfortably so. Classic rock played quietly from the speakers. Felicity found herself stealing glances at Adrian out of the corner of her eye, and she was surprised that he would be doing the same.

It felt… different. She felt young again. Lighter.

Adrian parked on the street outside Felicity’s loft and walked her to the lobby.

The cliched, “I had a really good time tonight,” slipped out without Felicity’s permission. She internally winced at how fake it might have sounded when she did, much to her own surprise, have a good time.

Adrian smiled.

“I did, too,” he said simply, “I really enjoy getting to know you, Felicity Smoak.”

He said her full name slowly, enunciating each syllable as his eyes trailed over her face.

Felicity felt the familiar panic balloon in her chest – where it had finally deflated that night – when he leaned forward.

To her immense relief, his lips chastely brushed against her cheek in a quick peck, before he pulled back and smiled.

“Until next time,” he said, before calling the elevator for her and walking back to his car outside.

As she entered the elevator, Felicity leaned against the wall and hit the button for her floor, exhaling heavily.

“Oh god,” she moaned to herself, “I’m in trouble.”

* * *

There was a next time. There were _several_ next times, in fact, which surprised Felicity. She had thought that surely by the second date Adrian would realize she was a hopeless case who no sane man would have the patience for.

Like Oliver, she hated to admit it, but she was wrong.

Their second date was planned to be an early dinner, but Adrian got busy at work and had to cancel.

He felt really guilty about it, so he surprised her the next afternoon while she stopped by City Hall and they went out for gelato and hung out on the steps of the court house.

Their third date was in between a busy week for both of them – Felicity and Oliver had to investigate people exhibiting Vertigo-like symptoms (false alarm) and Adrian was swamped at work thanks to the state Damien Darhk left the city in.

That’s why the only thing they really had time for was an evening walk in the park, where they enjoyed the sprawling light art installation that made the whole place seem glowy and ethereal. Adrian took her hand and Felicity didn’t have the urge to immediately pull away.

He looked far more casual that night, a sweater and jacket in place of his usual suited up look. The wind made his neat hair tousle a little. Felicity liked it.

They lost track of time talking, and by the time Adrian walked her back to her place, it was close to midnight.

“I’m going to regret this,” Adrian groaned, glancing at the time, “I have a trial starting tomorrow morning.”

Felicity winced.

“Sorry,” she said, “I feel like if I hadn’t insisted on my shortcut – and gotten us _lost_ – it wouldn’t be so late.”

Adrian waved her off.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, “I was only kidding – I can never regret spending time with you.”

They stopped outside the front entrance to her place. The only light came from inside the lobby and a few street lamps outside. Felicity could only see half of Adrian’s face, concealed in the shadows, but she could tell something shifted.

He took a step closer, and she felt frozen in place, keys still tangled in her fingers.

“Felicity,” Adrian whispered, “I want to kiss you right now.”

Felicity’s eyes went wide. The wiring in her brain that connected the words to her mouth failed, and all she could do was gape up at him.

“If that’s not okay…”

No, of course that was not okay. She wasn’t ready for that – she wasn’t over Oliver, not even close, not even a little –

But… wasn’t she, though?

Two sides of her mind waged war with each other – on the ethics of moving on, on what it would mean, on if she just deserved to have something _nice_ in her life right now.

She ignored them both, shaking her head away and pushing up on her toes, and meeting Adrian where he had half leaned in.

He wasn’t as tall as Oliver. His hands cupped at her neck, they felt only slightly smaller, and less calloused. His skin was soft, not the tickling stubble she had grown so used to.

She pushed every comparison aside and let herself _feel._

When they finally pulled away, Felicity wondered if she looked as dazed as she felt. To her relief, Adrian blinked back into awareness, and she could see as his eyes adjusted to the dark.

He didn’t make an immediate effort to say something, which gave Felicity’s brain enough time to kick into high gear.

“Adrian?” she whispered.

“Yes, Felicity,” he said, his voice an octave than it was before.

“I just…” she paused, pressing her hand against her forehead for a moment, “If we’re going to do this – if we’re, if we’re really going to be a… a _something –_ ”

She felt herself losing control, so she paused and recollected her thoughts.

“I’d just appreciate it if we can keep things to ourselves for a bit,” she finally said, dropping her hand to the side and resisting the urge to twist her fingers together nervously.

“This is about Oliver,” Adrian guessed.

Felicity could not lie.

“Yes. I’m sorry, I know it’s stupid, but I want to tell him at the right time, and figure this out without worrying about –”

“Don’t worry,” Adrian said, stopping her ramble in its tracks, “I understand. I’m just happy to be with you.”

Felicity couldn’t fight the warmth she felt at the words.

“Really?” she breathed – surprising herself with how giddy she sounded.

“Really,” he said, “You are something else, Felicity Smoak.”

Adrian smiled, tucking his finger under her chin briefly before pulling his hand back, looking regretful.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?”

She nodded. He walked away.

Felicity caught her expression in the mirror on the elevator ride up to her loft.

She could not stop smiling.

* * *

True to their discussion, Felicity and Adrian managed to start seeing each other without letting Oliver, or any other nosy figures in Star City, know.

It had been so long that Felicity felt like she forgot how to do everything. By the time they had to define the relationship, she felt uneasy.

But they did.

That’s how she knew, with certainty, that Adrian Chase was her boyfriend.

The idea made her stomach flip. Sometimes in guilt. Sometimes with happiness.

She didn’t let her newly adjusted relationship status stop her from Team Arrow work, though.

She was lucky that her boyfriend (!?) was a very busy district attorney in a city where the crime never slowed down, because his busy nights working gave her the flexibility to work out of the lair as Oliver patrolled the streets.

It also gave her time to continually try and convince Oliver that he could not _could not_ continue to go at this alone.

There was no word of when John would be coming back. Thea had recently returned, and she was happy being Oliver’s chief of staff (so she’d heard, Felicity hadn’t actually seen the girl yet). They all knew what happened to Laurel – and the knowledge of that was precisely _why_ Felicity wanted Oliver to have backup.

Unfortunately, he didn’t see it that way.

“John will come back, Thea will come back,” he said simply, “I’ll handle it,” he said.

The idiot got a black eye the next day. Not from a menacing bad guy, mind, but from just not paying attention and running into a beam on his way back to the lair.

Felicity saw the whole thing.

She didn’t laugh – okay, she did a little – but she took it as a sign that between being the mayor and being Green Arrow, Oliver was stretching himself too thin.

That’s why she had started keeping her eye on some of the people who roamed the street, seeking out their own justice. Thanks to the state of the city, luckily, there wasn’t a shortage on vigilantes, there was just a shortage of any promising candidates.

There was Evelyn Sharp, from earlier that year. She was young but powerful.

There was one guy, didn’t really have a name but the shirt he wore made Felicity refer to him as Wild Dog – he seemed good, _scrappy,_ but Oliver considered him a thorn in his side and decided arrowing him was more productive.

He never was good at making friends.

That’s where she would come in, though. And Oliver had trouble denying her what she wanted, so it was just a matter of time until she wore him down.

On a particularly exhausting night, with Tobias Church _zip tying_ Oliver to a chair and Felicity having to listen to him argue with Thea, she tried again.

And Oliver shut her down, again.

Well okay.

By the time she got back to her place that day, she was wiped. Just as she went to pull the keys out of her purse, a waiting figure at the door made her pause.

“Adrian,” she said in surprise, “What are you doing here?”

“Hey,” he said, pushing off the wall, “Sorry to stop by unannounced. It’s just… You sounded really upset on the phone earlier…”

He pursed his lips nervously and Felicity couldn’t help but smile.

“That’s… really sweet,” she said. She recalled their earlier conversation, she was upset, at Oliver, and his stubbornness, and then she’d overheard him Skyping John and wondered where _her_ phone call was, which was petulant, but it was how she felt…

“I’m okay,” she said, shaking the thoughts out of the way, “Just a long day.”

“Still up for our movie night, I hope?” he asked.

She nodded, taking his hand and unlocking her door.

“Definitely.”

* * *

Felicity got her way – as predicted.

Only, as predicted, Oliver was having trouble making friends with the new team. Training was hell, and not only because he tried to get her to wear a mask. The recruits weren’t as taken to him as they probably were when he was just a shadow on the news, and he wasn’t doing himself any favours.

Still. Felicity was confident that everything would work out. Or she would make it – because she was not going let Oliver to continue to put himself in danger simply because he was too stubborn. That was not her way.

It was a work in progress, though.

Then there was this issue with a guy in rags, – as if she didn’t have enough on her plate – rags that she couldn’t analyze because Darhk’s Ghosts broke their gas chromatograph a few months ago. She had to sweet talk her way into the police station and convince this poor unsuspecting detective that she was here to report a crime, only to lock him in a room and _borrow_ their machine.

He’d recover. She hoped.

The whole thing kept her busy, and by the time she got back to the bunker she found Oliver, by himself, staring dejectedly at the casing for their suits.

“You were right,” he revealed.

Felicity sighed. She _did_ love to hear him say that, but he looked so broken right now she couldn’t bring herself to even joke.

“The recruits quit. I can’t lead them, I failed.”

“Oliver,” Felicity set her bag down, “You didn’t lead them, you didn’t show them the real you – the person who I know they would like – you just showed them a scary guy in a mask with an awful training exercise.”

“I thought…” Oliver looked to his shoes, “If they didn’t know who I was, it would make things easier.”

“For them?”

“For me,” he looked up at her again, and she saw it – the raw pain, “If they didn’t know me, they wouldn’t get attached, or I wouldn’t… and if they left… I could protect myself.”

Felicity knew what this was about – not the possible new team, but his old one. It was about watching Laurel die, seeing John leave, listening to Thea refuse to join again. Perhaps even watching her walk away from their engagement. Oliver had watched them thrive as a team and watched it fall apart within a month.

But, that was what she was there for. Because she saw it all too, and she stayed, because he’d needed it, because she’d needed it, but because she knew he would lose sight of it all one day.

“I just think you’re missing something,” she said.

“Only the one thing?” he replied with a hint of a smile. She shook her head.

“The reason our team worked was because of the trust we had in _you,_ Oliver, not the Green Arrow. _Oliver_ is the leader, he’s the one who runs the team. He’s the one that I chose to stand by and that I continue to choose to stand by.”

She stopped herself with a deep breath, because it was the most she’d said to him in months. It was so open, and raw that she feared she would get ahead of herself and say something she regretted.

He caught on.

“Thank you,” he whispered. She nodded in response, afraid that if she said anymore they would enter a territory she wasn’t _nearly_ ready for.

Her phone buzzed. She’d automated the rag analysis results to be sent to her and then deleted off the police servers.

“I gotta look at this,” she said. Oliver didn’t move from his place in front of the mannequins as she walked to her computers.

As she typed through the analysis, she fought the urge to glance at Oliver’s back every few minutes.

* * *

Wednesday was especially busy for her. Not only because she was up half the night working through the analysis, but because she had to brief Oliver about it bright and early the next day.

Radioactive, apparently sentient cloth. Now she’d seen it all.

Well, probably. She hesitated to even think that because of what their lives entailed now, with the metas and all. And there was no telling what new story Barry would call with from Central City.

Then, she had to convince the new recruits that the Green Arrow wanted to speak with them once more – heavily implying but not outright saying he’d apologize (she never knew with him. Actually, she did know, he would never say it, but they needed to be brought back into the fold somehow and she’d be damned if she wasn’t the one to do it).

Things took an unexpected turn for the worse by the evening when Oliver went to confront the Ragman by himself and she ran the comms.

“ _I am the very last living soul of Havenrock.”_

As soon as she heard the words, it felt as if all the blood rushed down to her feet.

It had been so long. Her uneventful summer after Genesis Day gave her mind plenty of time to replay that moment, with the controls under her fingertips, with the impossible decision, with the lives that were lost – all because of her.

But everything picked up again in the past few weeks. Oliver, the recruits, Adrian…

But now she saw him – the living embodiment of what she had done. The last living person, who probably had a family that he watched die, a life he watched fall apart, a home that was destroyed…  

Oliver continued to talk to the Ragman. Felicity couldn’t listen to another word.

By the time he’d returned to the bunker to change, Felicity was on her way home.

When he called her, she let it go to voicemail.

* * *

It was easy to ignore Oliver when he had too much going on – there just wasn’t any time in his day to confront her about the Ragman.

Not between being the Mayor – one currently angry at his chief of staff sister for some bad press – and training the new team.

There were four of them, now. Rene, Evelyn, Curtis and Rory. All hovering over Felicity’s station to learn things.

She always _did_ want a big family.

She tried to avoid Rory as best she could – if she was lucky maybe no one would find out about his connection to Havenrock and tell him. The benefit of the bigger group was now she could blend into the background.

Of course, she wasn’t lucky.

Curtis confronted her about it after _he_ ’ _d_ spoken to Rory and found out about his heritage.

“You knew, didn’t you? About Havenrock.”

“He told Oliver,” she said slowly, “I overheard.”

“Does Rory know?”

Felicity scoffed.

“Know that I destroyed his hometown with a _nuclear missile_ five months ago? No, Curtis, it hadn’t come up.”

Curtis shook his head.

“You didn’t destroy anything, Felicity. That was Damien Darhk.”

Oh, how she wished it were that simple.

“Dahrk sent the missile to Monument Point. I sent it to Havenrock. I killed… tens of thousands of people.”

It was the first time she’d ever verbalized the fact since it happened. Doing so did nothing to ease the weight in her chest, but instead made it feel heavier.

“You saved millions of lives.”

She shook her head. The lump in her throat made it harder to talk.

“Tell that to Rory’s family,” she said quietly.

Luck found its way back to her, because Curtis couldn’t push any further when an alert went off from Starling General, and the night shifted its focus on taking down Derek Sampson.

But – after a little more pestering from Curtis – Felicity realized he was right. She couldn’t continue to be around Rory if she constantly felt uncomfortable around him, and she couldn’t expect them to succeed as a team if they weren’t honest.

Even if it meant that he would hate her. Or strangle her with his magical rags.

She caught him on his way out of the bunker.

“Rory, wait up,” she said. She jogged a little to catch up with him, each step ratcheting up her heart rate in anticipation of what was to come. “Can I talk to you?”

“Everything okay?” Rory looked at her in concern.

“Yeah,” she paused – that was already a lie, and that’s not how she wanted to start, “No. There’s … there’s something I need you to know. About Havenrock.”

Rory didn’t say anything, but nodded for her to continue.

“Havenrock was not the intended target, Monument Point was.”

His eyebrows furrowed.

“Someone… Someone redirected the missile to reduce the number of casualties,” it sounded so detached, and clinical. She hated it. Her heart was beating so loudly in her ears she could barely hear herself get to the next part. “That someone was me.”

Rory’s face dropped. He looked devastated – rightfully so, she was the _murderer_ responsible for his entire family and life’s upheaval, standing in front of him.

“Rory I am…” tears clogged at her throat, “I am so, so sorry.”

_Please forgive me. Please say something._

He didn’t do either. Spinning on his heel, he left the lair without looking back once.

Felicity’s ears felt like they were full of cotton. Vaguely she could hear the others chatting as they went home, and Oliver on the other side of the lair answering his phone.

She couldn’t be around any of it.

She waited for Rory to leave, shut down her computers, and rode the elevator up without saying goodbye to anyone.

Her phone was in her ear by the time she started her car.

“Hey,” she said, forcefully shoving at a few tears away as she backed out of the parking spot, “I know I said I couldn’t see you tonight, but some of my plans changed. Are you busy?”

She didn’t want to be alone tonight.

* * *

Adrian was waiting for her by the door, not unlike that night a few weeks ago. This time, she was expecting him, and she felt a rushing sense of relief to see him.

“Everything okay?” he asked once she’d unlocked the door and let him inside. She wondered idly if she should get him a key instead of letting him wait by her door all the time – it had to be creeping out the neighbors by now.

She could only nod. On the drive over, she had to pull over once because her vision clouded over with tears and she probably became a safety hazard, but she had wiped them away and decided that there would be no more.

Havenrock was done. Those lives were lost, and there was little she could do about it. She came clean to Rory and forgiving her was now on him.

“I just really needed to see you tonight,” she said. Her voice felt hoarse, so she got herself water from the kitchen.

Adrian followed her, concern on his face evident.

She put her glass down with force, the gentle clink echoed around her quiet loft. When she spun around, Adrian was watching her carefully, hands tucked into his jeans.

“Felicity?” he asked.

She ignored the unspoken questions, and instead leaned up on her toes to kiss him.

This was a far cry from their usual kisses – of hello, and goodbye, of those times they didn’t need anyone seeing – that were so chaste because Felicity asked him to take things slow.

But it had been a month of dating. And tonight, she needed more.

Adrian returned her kisses until her hands met the edge of his shirt, and then he pulled away.

“Felicity,” he whispered, pausing to catch his breath, “We don’t… we don’t need to… I know you want to take things slow.”

She was shaking her head before he finished.

“I’m done taking things slow.”

When she reached for the top of his shirt again, he didn’t protest.

* * *

When it was over, Felicity sat on her bed, feeling colder than she ever had in her life.

She pulled the sheets around her shoulders, pulling them in tight until they cocooned her. Still, she could not stop shaking. She still hadn’t dressed, but she couldn’t bring herself to walk the short length to her dresser.

Distantly, she heard the tap running in her washroom. She knew at any moment Adrian would return to the room and probably would not want to see her like this.

Her bravado downstairs lasted until they made their way up the steps. As soon as they were on the bed, and Adrian draped himself over her, the air left her lungs.

He could sense the change in her too, reminded her that at any moment they could stop, and that there was no rush, and that he would be okay, and are _you_ okay, Felicity?

His words only spurred her into action.

She just wanted to feel good for once. Feel _happy_ , damn it, she couldn’t remember the last time she felt happy. If nothing else, she just wanted to be able to get lost in the moment with a boyfriend who was clearly trying his best to be sweet and considerate.

Truthfully, all she felt was more empty than before.

The door opened and closed with a quiet click behind her. She made no effort to move – there was no need to pretend like she wasn’t sitting on the edge of the bed like it offended her.

“Hey,” Adrian said softly, “Sorry, were you waiting for the bathroom?”

She shook her head, too worried to turn around and face him.

When his hand gently touched her shoulder, she flinched.

“Felicity, look at me?” he asked gently.

She relented.

“If you weren’t ready for that… if – if you felt like you were pressured,” she shook her head as soon as he started. The tears threatened to build in her eyes, but she fought them off.

“It’s not that,” she said. Speaking for the first time made her realize how _tired_ she sounded, “I hate being like this. I just want to be all in. No second guessing.”

“You were really scaring me down there,” he revealed, “Did something happen when you were meeting your friends for dinner?”

Felicity closed her eyes at the reminder of the lie – and of the whole night.

“Nothing worth repeating,” she said vaguely, “I just want to forget about it, actually.”

“Maybe you should get some sleep,” Adrian suggested. Then, from where he hovered on one elbow over her bead, he hesitated.

Briefly, fear gripped at her – that he’d finally had enough, that she was clearly a basket-case, and he’d slept with her once and that was all he needed…

“What is it?” she asked, her voice smaller than before, somehow.

“Do you want me to stay tonight? If you’re not comfortable, I can…”

She shook her head.

“Stay,” she said, “Please.”

Adrian nodded. He pulled the covers back and settled into the bed. She lied down too, rolled onto her side. When his arm draped over her stomach, and his breathing steadied out in her ear, she felt a little less empty.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John returns, Oliver still doesn’t know about Adrian, there’s this guy named Prometheus, and aliens… Oh my!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi All. Thank you for the response to part one. I think I’ve sufficiently scared a lot of you and made some of you forget Adrian is really evil – which was my goal! had some questions about the short length of this fic: the truth is I want to have this project finished before summer ends, so longer chapters but not a longer fic. 
> 
> This chapter goes deeper into season 5A. I didn’t want to go through and adapt each episode, so I’ve consolidated them and kept the most important conversations (while adding my own, of course). I’ve referenced the important plot points from each ep to keep the overall plot cohesive. 
> 
> Also, Adrian and Felicity’s relationship is steadily making steps, unfortunately. Stick with it, I hope I’ve explained the mindset Felicity’s in well enough to explain why it happens. Also also, there is dramatic irony galore. Have fun.  
> 

Things changed after Adrian and Felicity’s night together.

It was as if the careful barrier Felicity had built up when they first started dating was gone, and she finally allowed herself to be in it with him with both feet, rather than keeping one out the door at all times, ready to flee.

They both led busy lives and only got to see each other a few times a week, but it was perfect for Felicity. He never questioned her late night habits, or missed calls, or all the time she was spending with friends he’d yet to meet.

That was another thing – she revelled in the fact that her friends were not also  _his_  friends, that they both had their own circles, that if anything went sideways she’d never have to worry about losing everyone else she knew along with him.

It was nice.

And speaking of nice friends: John was back. Not without trouble – you weren’t a member of Team Arrow without a little trouble – but she was just happy to have him in the bunker again.

A few uncomfortable conversations with Rory later, he agreed to join the team again, which was – you guessed it – nice.

And then things had to take a turn for the crazy – because, why not?

Oliver thought she was overreacting – but honestly, hiring a guy none of them knew to wear Oliver’s face, pretend to be him, and then be pronounced  _dead?_

Surely there were better ways of handling Tobias Church.

The plan was simple, or at least as simple as any faking death plan could be. Oliver had back to back meetings all day, and Christopher – also known as the Human Target – would switch out between them without anyone knowing.

Felicity had to brief him on the plan one last time the morning of. She paced around Oliver’s office, waiting for him.

She felt jittery. Not just because she’d have to watch Oliver die (fake die, but still, try telling that to her nightmares), but because he was risking so much here.

Also, she saw that his schedule had an interview with one Susan Williams on it. Blech. Felicity really hated her stories.

As she waited by the window overlooking the courtyard outside City Hall, the door opened behind her.

“Hey, I got your text” Adrian said, walking over in concern, “Everything okay?”

She shook her head.

“Just… a lot going on,” she gestured vaguely around her head, “Up here. I’m glad you had a minute before your meeting.”

“I always have a minute for you,” Adrian assured her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her in closer. When she felt his lips press into her hair, she relaxed. They didn’t say anything – didn’t need to – but just looked out the window together.

When she first texted Adrian asking to meet her, she wasn’t sure what exactly she needed. But standing with him, comfortably wrapped up and at ease for the first time all week, she understood.

She was starting to just crave Adrian’s company.

A few weeks ago, that would have scared her.

Today, she felt a little more at ease in his embrace.

“You okay?” Adrian whispered.

“Am now,” she said softly

His arms tightened in response and cheek came to rest over the crown of her head.

The sound of the office door opening made Felicity jump backwards and turn around.

Oliver – she knew it was him, not the Human Targeted version – stood by the door. His hand was gripped against the door knob and one eyebrow was raised.

“Am I interrupting something?” he asked. His feelings were barely concealed, but Felicity could identify every emotion that passed his face: confusion, hurt, anger, and the shutting down of them all.

“I was just leaving,” Adrian said calmly, as if they were doing nothing wrong at all, “Due in court in a bit. Felicity, Oliver.”

He nodded to her once before walking out, and Felicity was grateful he didn’t try to do something tactless like peck her goodbye. Oliver watched him leave and then turned his attention back to her, eyes blazing.

Felicity cleared her throat.

“I just came by to say that Christopher will be in the last stall of the second floor men’s washroom by noon,” she said. Her voice was as shaken as she felt, but she managed to keep herself together, “Last time to remind you that this is  _crazy.”_

Oliver didn’t seem to listen to any of that.

“You and Adrian?” he whispered. His face morphed into a pained grimace, “How… how long?”

Felicity swallowed hard. This is not how she wanted to tell him. Not even close.

“Please, Oliver,” she whispered. Tears sprung in her eyes, “Not now. I promise, later we can… But right now, there are bigger things at stake.”

Oliver nodded, his jaw tightening. His eyes sunk to the floor.

“I have to get back to the bunker,” she said, and when she walked towards the door he didn’t make any move that indicated he heard her.

She returned to the lair with shaky legs. She didn’t know why she felt so …  _caught._ She didn’t owe him anything. They weren’t together anymore. Still, guilt tightened in her chest.

She knew when she made Adrian promise to keep things quiet, there was always deadline but… the reality was she never set it. She never even entertained possible ways to break the news to him, and now it was too late.

From her monitors, she watched Oliver get shot. He entered the bunker not three minutes later, but she still had to do yoga breathing exercises in the bathroom until her heart rate found its way back to earth.

* * *

Adrian called her when Oliver was pronounced ‘dead’.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, “I can’t imagine how you must be feeling right now.”

“I’m okay,” she said, and then closed her eyes. She sounded a little  _too_ okay. “I think… It hasn’t hit me yet.”

“I understand,” Adrian said sympathetically, “Do you need me to come over? Or do you need some space tonight?”

Felicity pursed her lips. If he came over, he would see how much she wasn’t grieving. If he did though, well, then maybe that would keep Oliver away from her house to have that  _talk_ she had promised him so many times already.

In the end, her cowardice won out. She hoped her acting skills were up to par.

“I would really appreciate if you came,” she said.

When she was out of the lair, Christopher and Oliver were deep in discussion. She didn’t feel the need to say goodbye.

* * *

Adrian had a key now – that’s where they were at in the relationship – so he was in her kitchen by the time she got home.

“Are you making something?” she asked.

Adrian looked up with a sheepish expression.

“I wanted to make you tea,” he said, pointing to the kettle, “But you don’t have many options here. Now I just have some really hot water for you.”

Felicity smiled despite herself.

“I’m not really a tea person,” she said.

Adrian nodded.

“No tea,” he said, “I can remember that. For now…”

He moved closer, pulling her in for a tight hug. Her head rested on his chest and she relaxed.

“How are you holding up?”

The concern in his voice made her tear up – at how she was lying to him, at how she didn’t deserve someone so caring.

“I’m okay,” when her voice cracked, he pulled her away.

“Hey,” he wiped at a stray tear, “It’s okay. You don’t have to be strong for me.”

She nodded. Her chin quivered as the night finally caught up with her. Every time she blinked she saw Oliver falling to the pavement.

“Did you see Thea? How is she holding up?”

“She’s processing,” Felicity lied, thinking quickly of what sounded believable, “We talked about making the arrangements tomorrow. I wanted to help…”

“Of course,” Adrian said, “I understand. Is there anything I can do?”

It was so quick she almost missed it. But she didn’t. Movement out of the corner of her eye, just above Adrian’s shoulder, in her balcony. It had to be one person.

There was no hiding tonight after all.

“I think I need to be alone,” she said, “I appreciate you coming over, but I just…”

She twisted her face into what she hoped was a believable pained expression. Whatever she gave him, it worked.

Adrian nodded, gathering his keys from her countertop.

“Call me tomorrow,” he said, “If you need anything.  _Anything,_ okay?”

Felicity nodded. Her eyes slid shut as grasped her face and kissed her forehead. When he walked out the door and slid the lock in place, she exhaled.

She gathered her arms around herself and made her way to the balcony. No need to delay the inevitable.

“You do remember that this apartment has a front door, right?”

There. A joke. He couldn’t be mad at her when she opened with a joke.

“Well, front doors are more for people who haven’t just faked their own death,” Oliver answered. His eyes drifted to the interior. “Or for people who already had company.”

There it was.

“Oliver,” she closed her eyes as a wave of exhaustion hit her, “This can wait until tomorrow. Please.”

He shook his head.

“Why… why didn’t you tell me you were seeing Adrian?”

And there it was.

Immediately, her walls went up.

“Maybe on some crazy, subconscious level, I was worried you’d show up on my balcony in the middle of the night.”

She let the sarcasm leak into her voice carelessly, but one look at the disappointed expression on his face made her scale it back.

“Sorry,” she amended, “Snark probably isn’t appropriate here.”

“I… I’m totally fine that you are seeing him,” he said, “I’m just hurt that you didn’t tell me.”

She could see the hurt, he didn’t even try to pretend otherwise. It was more than she could say for herself right now.

“I meant to,” she said, and she was surprised at how genuine she sounded, “I did. And – and then every time I went to go bring it up, I just sort of – I – I chickened out.”

Her shoulders slumped. There was the whole honest truth right there – she had been too scared to tell him. It was pathetic.

“But, why? I’ve seen you guys at the office so many times, I already figured you guys were friends,” he asked, “Were you...”

Felicity frowned at his hesitance.

“What?”

“Were you not telling me for a reason? Were you hoping to keep the door open? For… for us, I mean.”

Felicity felt every part of her go cold as just a  _speck_  of hope dawned on his face.

She asked herself the same thing: was the door still open for them?

No, it couldn’t be – and it should not have been. He broke her trust and she broke his heart and there was just … no coming back from that.

The day after they slept together, and she found him in the bunker, she said she just wasn’t ready yet. She thought she just needed time.

She was wrong – she needed closure.

“No,” she said, and when his face fell at how quickly she responded she hated herself, “No, that wasn’t – it – you and I work together, and Adrian works with you. I didn’t want to make it a thing until… until it was something real.”

“Is it real?”

The wind blew between them as Oliver’s question hung in the air. It made the skin rise on her arms.

Was it? She had no idea.

Adrian was good to her, he was patient and considerate and treated her well. For the rough year she had been having, he felt like she could get something  _right_ again.

But was it real? Was it going to last forever?

Was Oliver right in thinking that she hid from him hoping they would get back together eventually?

She answered honestly.

“I don’t know.”

Oliver looked like he had more to say – lots more to say – but she was saved by the buzzing of his cell phone.

“It’s John and Rene,” he said, glancing at the message, “They have something.”

And just like that – it was over.

* * *

Her worry over the fake death plan was for nothing – everything worked out in the end. Church was locked up. Oliver came clean to the citizens of Star City that he was alive, and it was business as usual.

Felicity felt like there was still a lot of uncertainty from their conversation the night before.

That’s why she swallowed her pride and dropped by City Hall, just as Oliver had been saying goodbye to Christopher and thanking him for his help.

She hesitated by the door when he looked at her.

“Sorry to drop by unannounced,” she said.

“It’s not like you need an invitation,” he responded, gesturing for her to come in.

“Yeah, no, I know,” she walked towards him. With the sunlight streaming in through his windows, he looked lighter. It made her breath catch.

“I just… things between us have been complicated. I mean, complicated is probably not the right word – it’s not the  _wrong_ word…”

She stopped once her tongue began to get tied. Damn it, she had rehearsed this in her head on the way over.

“I just want you to be happy,” Oliver said. He made it sound so simple – so easy. How she  _wished_ it could ever be that easy. “In the spirit of that, I think you owe it to yourself to find out if what you have with Adrian  _is_ real. He’s a good guy.”

She nodded.

“And,” he continued, “I owe it to myself to embrace whatever’s next for – for me, when I’m not…”

He paused, miming the way he’d put on the hood every night.

It made her catch a little – that’s what he was thinking about?

She ignored the fleeing, fearful thought and raised her hands in the shape of a claw.

“The  _grr?_ ”

He laughed, the sound surprised her so much it made her laugh as well. It felt like so long they had even done that together.

“It’s funny,” she said, “I came here to say the same thing to you.”

Oliver beamed.

“We’re usually on the same page about a lot of things.”

He looked at her, smiling and unblinking, and the weight of his look made her shift uncomfortably.

“Alright I will – I should go,” she adjusted the buttons on her coat, “I’ll see you later.”

“Mhmm,” Oliver nodded.

“And are – are we okay?” She picked at the ends of her coat, hating the way her voice felt small as she asked.

“Hey,” he said gently. It made her look up. “I care about you. I will  _always_ care about you. It’s a mortal lock.”

And there he was again – after months, she saw a glimpse of that impossible man. Who, probably unintentionally, said things that made her heart rate pick up.

 _Mortal lock._ Where did he even get that from?

Oliver had a habit of wearing his heart on his sleeve when it came to her. And sometimes, it was too much.

This was one of those moments.

“Okay,” she whispered, “I’m gonna get going, for real now. I’ll see you in the…?”

“Yup,” Oliver nodded in understanding, “See you later.”

She walked out of City Hall, wondering if that was the closure she had been seeking all this time.

If it was, why did she still feel so hollow?

* * *

There was no time to wallow in the nuances of her conversations with Oliver.

When one door of crazy bad guy closed, another opened.

Tobias Church out, Prometheus in.

 _Prometheus_. These bad guys were getting creative with their names.

This guy killed Church and left a trail of dead cops in his wake, in a particularly gruesome display of violence.

Felicity shuddered as she looked at the images in the SCPD file – and it had been a while since something had gotten to her like that.

The media started calling this guy the ‘Throwing Star Killer’ which… had a little flair, Felicity had to admit, but Susan Williams coined the phrase and she would have rather not given that woman any credit.

The team needed to get their hands on the actual weapons Prometheus used, but it was hard when everything was in SCPD evidence bags and their one connection with the police was now deputy mayor.

Still, Felicity Smoak managed. That was what she did.

Sure, it took some more sleuthing around the police station than she was comfortable with, but the red tipped throwing star now in their possession made things easier.

John joined her in the bunker as she waited for the analysis to come back, and the two of them were tasked by a very grouchy Oliver to figure out what all the victims had in common.

Her phone buzzed with a text message from Adrian, informing her that he was okay with cancelling their plans tonight.

She glanced at the message and, following impulse, flipped her phone over so that the screen faced the table.

It did not go unnoticed by John Diggle.

“I never did get to ask about that,” he said thoughtfully.

“Ask about what?” she kept the pace of her typing steady so to not give away how uncomfortable she felt at the prospect of  _that_ conversation.

“Adrian Chase,” he said the name slowly, “District attorney. Fancy.”

“Oliver told you,” she guessed.

John nodded.

She sighed. She didn’t know why she expected otherwise. Between the three of them, matters hardly stayed private.

“I’m kind of offended you didn’t tell me first,” he said, swiveling in his chair a little.

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes – so was Oliver, he could get in line.

“I didn’t tell anyone because I wanted to see what it was first,” she said, “I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.”

“It is a big deal,” John said, “Earlier this year, when you and Oliver broke it off, I thought for sure it was just a matter of time until you guys figured it out again.”

Felicity’s eyebrow twitched.

“Sorry to disappoint,” she said wryly.

“It’s worse than I thought,” John pushed – and Felicity had to count to ten inside her head and remind herself that she missed him for a very long time before this conversation. “You two barely talk to each other anymore. Was it like that all summer when I was gone?”

Felicity’s fingers faltered in their dance across her keyboard as images flashed in her head – of takeout and wine and the kind of sweat their training mats were not made for.

“Not… all summer,” she admitted vaguely.

John straightened.

“Okay, tell me,” he said.

She finally tore her eyes away from the screen and looked at him.

“We had…” she searched for a delicate way to say it, “A moment. During the summer. But it was a mistake – I knew it wouldn’t work.”

“But he wanted to make it work,” John guessed.

She had to scoff – Oliver was always willing, but the work that went into things was far more complicated than he wanted to acknowledge.

“Look, the point is, I’m moving on now, and apparently so is he.”

Thea called Susan Williams his girlfriend to Felicity on the phone earlier that day.

She wasn’t sure if the bite in Thea’s voice was because Ms. Williams was the  _worst,_ or because she was dropping some kind of hint to the girl who stomped all over her brother’s heart.

If it was the latter, then for the record, Felicity believed he did the stomping first.

But that was besides the point.

“Okay,” John raised his hands, “I get it. Moving on. I won’t interfere any further.”

Felicity nodded once.

“Thank you.”

“We can agree that his new girlfriend is the worst, right?”

Felicity couldn’t help it – she snickered.

“The  _worst,”_  she said in a whisper, like it was gossip, “Seriously, whatever happened to journalism ethics? Is that just not a thing anymore?”

John laughed along with her, and she leaned back in her chair, feeling lighter. It had been a while since they had a moment to just sit down and laugh.

“How are things with you, John? How are Lyla and Sara?” she asked, “I haven’t seen you nearly enough since you got back.”

“I’m okay,” he said, “Lyla and I are…”

She raised an eyebrow.

“We’re making things work. I think enlisting last summer was a bad idea. And being a fugitive of the state now really isn’t helping matters. We’re working on it, though.”

“Good,” she said, “I’m glad.”

She was – and, to be perfectly honest, relieved. If there were two people who could make it through anything it was John and Lyla.

“So,” John switched gears and gave her a smile that could only mean trouble, “When do we get to properly meet the guy who has you smiling at your phone every half an hour?”

Felicity touched the corner of her mouth self consciously. She really didn’t think it was that obvious.

“Oh please,” John rolled his eyes, “I can read you like a book by now. But seriously, Oliver’s already met him, that’s not fair.”

Felicity tried to imagine John Diggle, Adrian Chase and Oliver Queen in one room together. Even if the new team didn’t tag along (and she had a feeling Curtis would try and weasel his way through), that evening sounded like it would be disastrous.

Or at the very least, super awkward.

“Maybe when things are less crazy,” Felicity said. She turned her attention back to the monitors, “Or after we figure out the connection between all these victims before Oliver bites our heads off.”

John smiled and followed her attention to the screens.

“Can you pull up the autopsy reports again?”

* * *

A few grueling hours with the victims’ reports later, and they cracked the case.

Okay. That was an exaggeration – they had a lead.

Each of the victims were anagrams of people Oliver had killed as the Hood – people from the list. Some of the names dated back to before Felicity even joined the team. It was a chilling reminder of the person Oliver once was.

She was not the only one who thought so – Oliver was visibly upset at the reminder, and the new team had not taken to the Oliver Queen history lesson well.

It was also Felicity’s week for being the bearer of bad news, because the throwing star she’d swiped from the police station (nothing compared to the federal crime she’d accumulated over the years), turned out to have some chilling evidence.

She had to stop him in the middle of a big city event that Thea had put on, because there just wasn’t any time in the day left for them.

“I’ve been looking at the throwing stars to see if I can get anything off them,” she started, “The alloy is very specific with trace quantities containing dozens of different genetic markers, and I was able to nail the forensic evidence to coming within the past four years.”

She paused to take a breath and watched as Oliver tried to connect the dots from what she wasn’t saying.

“What are you trying to tell me?”

“This is going to sound crazy,” she warned Oliver.

He looked at her tiredly – between City Hall and the fear drummed up by Prometheus’ murders, he was close to reaching his limit.

“I think that Prometheus has gotten his hands on the various arrows that you’ve used over the past four years, melted them down and made weapons out of them.”

Oliver’s eyebrows shot to the ceiling.

“If that’s true,” he hesitated, “That – that would mean he has access to SCPD lockup.”

“Oliver, I think we have our lead,” she said, “He’s a member of the SCPD.”

Oliver nodded, and she could see the wheels in his head turning.

“Okay,” he said slowly, “Okay. Tomorrow, we need to start narrowing it down. People who have been on the force since I was the Hood… Maybe the Anti-Vigilante task force? Start there.”

Felicity nodded. She rocked on her heels, ready to head straight to the bunker and get started on that list, but Oliver put a hand on her arm.

She froze. It was the first contact they’d really made in months.

“Felicity,” he said steadily, “Tomorrow. We had a lot on our plate today. You can… you can call Adrian.”

Her shoulders deflated.

“Right,” she said, “I can do that. I’m… I’m going to go.”

“Goodnight,” he said. It made her heart rate pick up.

She called Adrian once she got to her car, but it went to voicemail.

Okay. Maybe she could finally have a quiet night in – Adrian wasn’t as obsessed with true crime shows as she was, and she had some catching up to do.

* * *

It looked like this fall was going out of its way to give Felicity migraines every week.

Now there was a charming masked man in ski goggles running around – creatively called Vigilante.

But that was not even the thing that gave her most grief today.

No, it was the press.

Okay, okay. Press made them sound more official. Even saying tabloids was a little too generous. These were just gossip blogs – plain and simple.

Felicity was intimately familiar with them by now, and usually most of what they said didn’t matter. She had faded into the background since breaking things off with Oliver, and things only picked up when they were spotted together.

At first. Then the press realized that Oliver and Felicity really were just weirdos who spent time together  _as friends._ Most mentions became bored before they stopped altogether.

Felicity naively figured that meant she would be spared from any more gossip as she went on with her life.

One public outing with Adrian changed that.

It was certainly the more innocent of things they’d done so far – they spent some time by the harbor and shared lunch together. When Felicity got in her car Adrian kissed her goodbye.

Someone got the photo.

She glared at it on her screen.

Accompanying the grainy cell phone captured image of her, there was a  _decently_ sized article that spared Felicity no mercy – photos from her time with Oliver, with  _Ray_ were drudged up, as the anonymous contributor asked their readers why Felicity Smoak only seemed to target powerful men – a CEO, a mayor, and now the city’s district attorney.

In her defence, Oliver wasn’t even the mayor when they started going out – he wasn’t even mayor when they broke up! – but whatever.

Accuracy hardly mattered to these publications – again, too generous of a word for them. Vultures felt a little more fitting.

There were photos from a few of Oliver’s events, including his inauguration, and speculation as to why she even attended if not to snag the next most powerful man she could.

The article ended with a link to the photo gallery from Oliver’s date in a bar with Susan Williams earlier that week.

So that was just great.

“What are you looking at so seriously?”

Adrian coming behind her made her jump. She slammed the tablet on the dining table.

“Nothing,” she said, pushing the device away. The screen was still lit, but at least it was far from her.

Adrian leaned over, his hand dropping to her shoulder.

“ _Oliver Queen’s ex moving on to nearest city bigshot: Photos here_ ,” he read, “Felicity, what are you doing?”

She ignored his question but tapped a spoon against her bowl of oatmeal.

“Do you think I’ve targeted you for my nefarious plans to climb the social ladder?” she asked thoughtfully.

Adrian laughed and shook his head.

“If these people knew anything, they’d know I had to get  _you_ to go out with  _me_.”

Felicity raised an eyebrow.

“That’s true. But how do you that wasn’t my plan along?” she widened her eyes conspiratorially, “Luring you in with my womanly wiles and getting what I need?”

Adrian responded by joining the seat next to her and pulling her chair in closer.

“Well then, Ace, I am very happy to be lured in,” he said, lowering his voice.

Let it be known that Felicity Smoak would always know when to take a hint – she leaned in to meet him halfway, but then her phone beeped with a text message from Barry Allen.

Trouble never seemed to take the morning off.

At least she got a good breakfast in.

* * *

Aliens.

She wasn’t sure what she was missing in her life of the endlessly crazy – but now she knew. Aliens was the last thing on the list.

As soon as she thought it, she mentally backtracked. Knowing her life, that would  _not_  be the last thing on the list.

Not when Team Arrow and Team Flash were starting to develop a habit of always getting into joined trouble around Thanksgiving holidays.

Everything worked out in the end, as was their norm. Something still nagged at Felicity, however, as she poured champagne out for the group of heroes before her, and everyone mingled.

Ever since Oliver got off the Dominator’s ship, he wouldn’t look at her. He avoided eye contact when she filled his glass and then wandered over to talk to Barry, right as she was about to ask if he was feeling okay.

Well, alright.

Fine.

Instead, she found Ray. It had been a while since she’d gotten to chat with him, given his new life traipsing around space and time.

“Hey,” she poked his shoulder and he turned to her with a grin, “I never got a chance to catch up, and you’re going to be leaving soon.”

“I know,” Ray said regretfully, “How have you been?”

She pursed her lips. That was not an easy question to answer these days.

“I’m managing,” she said simply, “And you?”

Ray nodded.

“The same. That alien ship didn’t really help matters any,” he shuddered.

There – that was her chance to get some answers.

“What  _did_ happen up there?” she asked, “I haven’t been able to corner John or Oliver yet, but all of you guys looked really shaken.”

“It was… the  _strangest_ thing, Felicity,” Ray said, shaking his head in disbelief, “It was a hallucination, but it all felt so real. You were there.”

That caught Felicity by surprise.

“What?”

Ray nodded.

“You were there. But it wasn’t you. We were engaged, you had this company called Smoak Technologies… Oliver was about to marry Laurel Lance, John was the Green Arrow...”

Felicity froze – that sentence had  _a lot_ to unpack, and she didn’t even know where to begin.

“Oliver and Laurel?” she repeated. The name made her heart tug – it had been months since Laurel’s passing, she hadn’t thought of her friend in so long. “Wait – you and me?  _Engaged?_ ”

Ray laughed when she wrinkled her nose.

“I know,” he said, “Try living it. It was bizarre. We were at Oliver’s rehearsal dinner together and everything. Right when we were leaving would have been their wedding.”

Felicity chewed the inside of her cheek.

“So this place was, what, a hallucination?” she asked, “They got into your heads and everything?”

“Exactly,” he said, “It was like a dream, you know?”

“A dream,” Felicity repeated hollowly.

Ray seemed to read the look on her face.

“Think logically, Felicity, what are dreams?”

Her mind flashed to the stupid Disney song that her mom loved to sing along to.

_A dream is a wish your heart makes…_

“There’s lots of theories,” she shook the insecure thoughts away, “Like, the brain processing memories and producing imagery, often images that don’t always make … oh.”

Ray nodded.

“It was like they accessed our memories, but all of it got mixed up and none of it made sense. They knew I was engaged, but not to Anna, instead they put me with you,” he said.

She pursed her lips. That made sense.

“Smoak Technologies?” she asked. She couldn’t help but wonder whose subconscious that came from.

Ray gave her a knowing smile.

“It’s a good name,” he said, “If you ever need one.”

Felicity found her smile once more.

“It was nice seeing you again, Ray,” she said. They only had a moment to quickly hug before the others were calling them back.

She tried a few times to catch Oliver’s attention, but every time she tried he was distracted by someone talking or looked lost in his own thoughts.

They had separate exits out of Central City. He had to go earlier to make an important appearance at City Hall. Diggle and Thea went with him. She went a little bit later.

By the time she got back to her loft, she felt exhausted – a deep kind of tired she hadn’t felt since the summer. She closed the curtains in her room and fell to the bed – despite it being the middle of the afternoon, she fell asleep.

* * *

As November turned to December, Felicity could feel herself getting worse.

The day she got home from Central City, she ended up sleeping for twelve hours. She missed calls from Adrian, Diggle and Curtis, with varying degrees of concern. She didn’t answer any of them but gave everyone generic excuses.

Curtis accepted that she caught a cold. Diggle sounded skeptical but agreed that leaving her alone was best since he had a young child at home.

Adrian brought her corn soup.

Boyfriends. Always making things complicated.

She ate the soup gratefully, though, even if it meant staying in bed.

“Don’t you have work, Mister?” she asked, setting her bowl down on the nightstand. Adrian was perched on the edge of the bed, resting a hand on her leg.

“Something told me I had to come here and make sure you took this,” he said, “Besides, it’s no big deal. I hadn’t seen you much since your trip to Central City for your friend’s birthday. I missed you.”

She smiled and leaned against the pillow.

“I missed you too,” she said, a pang of guilt hitting at how many lies were starting to accumulate. She wasn’t even sick, for god’s sake, she just felt… off, and Adrian was here playing doctor with her.

Not even like that. Ugh.

“I do have to get going,” he said regretfully, “Bail hearing.”

He rolled his eyes.

“When I get back, you better be resting,” he said with mock sternness.

“Yes, sir,” Felicity said with a little salute, though she knew she’d done enough resting lately. She needed to return some Team Arrow calls and get caught up on what happened in Star City when they left.

He kissed her forehead and left. She waited in the bed until she heard the front door opened and closed, and the key slid through the lock.

She pushed the covers away and wiped at her face.

First order of business was the missed call from Oliver.

“Hey,” she started, “I’m sorry I was MIA for a bit there, I’ll be in the bunker –”

“Don’t worry about it,” Oliver said with a hint of frustration, “I won’t be there. I was just calling to remind you about the Christmas party tomorrow.”

“The… what?” Felicity asked blankly.

“I told you about this,” Oliver insisted, “I’d really like if you came.”

Felicity ran her hand through her hair.

“Alright, sure,” she tried not to sound irritated – he definitely did not tell her, he’d have to speak with her for more than a minute for that to happen – “I’ll be there.”

“Good,” Oliver said, “Adrian is invited too.”

She was definitely too tired to unpack why he felt the need to drop that little nugget.

“See you then, I guess,” she guessed the commotion around him was office party prep related and not Team Arrow.

“Bye.”

He did not wait for a response before the line went dead.

Felicity sighed and threw her head back against the pillows.

Oliver was so frustrating these days. He barely talked to her, and if he did it was strictly team business, and that was  _before_ he got beam-me-up-Scotty’d onto an alien spacecraft. Now he was just impossible.

She felt tired again, even though it was barely 6 pm. Settling back against the pillows, she let herself fall asleep.

* * *

She didn’t make sense of it at first.

At first, she just felt like she was being rocked around. Not soothingly, but an aggressive thrashing. The space was dark, there was the hiss of tires underneath her.

And then – pain, pain so sharp it made her ears pop. Her mouth fell open, but nothing was coming out. She wanted to do something – cover the spot of pain, her mouth, her ears,  _anything_ but she couldn’t move.

The rocking continued as the car made sharp turns. No, not car, she realized, limousine.

She raised her eyes and saw the back of his head – and she tried to call out to him.

She couldn’t. The pain became too intense. The pool in her mouth – blood, she realized too late – overflowed. Her eyelids went heavy.

_Felicity… Felicity?_

At the feeling of being gently shaken, Felicity blinked awake.

Staring into Adrian’s eyes as he propped himself up on one elbow, she realized belatedly it was a dream.

“Are you alright?” he asked. Sleep coated his voice but she could tell he had been awake for more than a few minutes.

She shook herself out of it, rubbing at her eyes.

“I’m fine,” she said, “I’m sorry, did I wake you up?”

Usually her nightmares were aggressive, trashing, sweating, the whole nine yards. But this time she didn’t feel herself tangled up in her sheets as usual.

“I was already about to get up,” Adrian said, “But you started talking. I’ve never heard you talk in your sleep before.”

Felicity furrowed her eyebrows.

“Oh…”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Instantly, Felicity wanted to say no. That was not something she wanted to expose Adrian to – the deep expanses of her already overactive mind and the way they messed with her nights was, like, a level ten relationship thing.

But then she realized she really,  _really_ did.

“You probably heard about the shooting that I was involved in this time last year,” she started, sitting up on the bed. She glanced at her phone and realized it was 5 am, which explained why Adrian was already up. He liked to jog early.

“I did,” Adrian said, making a sympathetic face, “I’m so sorry. Were you dreaming about that?”

Felicity nodded.

“Just… that night… when I was shot I felt like I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t  _talk._ Everything just … hurt so much.”

“You were calling out for help,” Adrian said understandingly, “That’s why I woke you up. I got scared.”

Felicity looked down to the blanket that fell in her lap. That certainly made sense.

“That whole… ordeal,” Felicity said, “It was tough on me. ER, surgeries, painkillers. I thought I would never walk again.”

“I remember that, too,” Adrian said. He gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, “It got nonstop coverage on the news. I remember thinking…”

He looked down and chuckled to himself.

“What?” Felicity asked, a smile playing at the corner of her lips.

“I remember thinking –  _that girl is so strong_ ,” he shrugged, “I guess I had my eye on you for longer than I realized.”

Felicity felt her cheeks go hot under the weight of his gaze and she looked down.

“So, what happened?” he said, “They never explained it on the news, but, I mean, you’re walking now.”

 Felicity turned around and lifted her tank top up.

The scars that edged along her back and ribcage stood out in angry pink lines all along her skin. She was always conscious of them, and Adrian, bless him, never once led on that he even knew they were there.

Her hand traced along the base of her spine, along the surgery line.

“An implant designed to help me walk,” she said, “My miracle chip.”

“Wow,” Adrian whispered. She could feel as he shifted behind her. “Do you mind if I –?”

She nodded. His fingertips ran along the edge of the lines gently, and she resisted the urge to shudder.

His hands stopped their path and he pulled the tank top down. When she felt his lips brush against her shoulder she turned around.

“I was right, last year,” he said.

“Oh? About what?”

“You have got to be the strongest person I know.”

A knot twisted in her throat at the words, and she blinked away the tears quickly. This was far more weight than she ever expected in their morning conversation, but once she started to open up, it just felt so good.

Adrian sensed the emotions that passed by her, so he switched to a lighter, more conversational tone.

“So, did your dream have anything to do with the Christmas party happening tonight?”

Felicity almost groaned – she had forgotten all about that. She really wasn’t looking forward to it.

“Oliver reminded me at City Hall yesterday,” Adrian continued, “Didn’t look very happy.”

“Sounds about right,” Felicity muttered.

“He also told me…” Adrian stopped to laugh.

She tilted her head.

“What?”

“He told me to take care of you.”

Of course, he did. He probably threw in some Oliver Queen special line of making sure that she was happy, and that all he wanted was for her to be happy…

“And what did you say?”

Adrian moved closer to her.

“I said he had nothing to worry about.”

“Good,” Felicity said, and when his face stopped inches away from her she kissed him.

“I should get going,” Adrian said regretfully once they had pulled away. “I’ll go to work after. What do you have planned for the day?”

Too many things she didn’t want to do.

“Probably running errands for this holiday party. Should I meet you there?”

Adrian groaned once he climbed out of bed.

“Maybe,” he said, “We’ll play it by ear. I’d rather pick you up though.”

Felicity rolled her eyes – Adrian had a habit of always insisting on doing things properly – picking up, dropping off, going to places together.

She watched him leave with a smile playing at her face.

As she got ready for the day, she pushed any and all thoughts aside of her last holiday in Star City.

* * *

Adrian ended up running late and said he would meet her at the party.

Felicity, spending her day finding a dress and contemplating the pros and cons of extending her fake sick excuse, arrived alone and miserable.

It didn’t help that, in the time she took waiting for Adrian, and watching Thea, Oliver, and his date Susan chat, she ended up downing two glasses of champagne.

“Woah, there, Ace,” the familiar voice made her turn, third glass of booze raised to her lips, “What has you drinking like they’re announcing a prohibition?”

Felicity tipped the glass back for a small sip.

“Nervous,” she said sheepishly.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Adrian leaned in and pecked her on the cheek, “You look beautiful.”

She smiled, smoothing out her dress.

Given the last-minute purchasing, Felicity dipped a little more into her PT severance savings than she should have.

But then she overheard Oliver praise his new girlfriend’s look upon arrival. And she didn’t regret it anymore.

“You’re just in time,” she commented, as the party’s host walked to the front of the room and rubbed his palms against his thighs – a tell tale sign that Oliver was about to do some public speaking.

“Happy holidays, everyone. Thank you so much for coming.”

His speech was good, well rehearsed. She hadn’t been his sounding board in a while, so she hadn’t heard it before, but she knew that his reference to  _It’s a Wonderful Life_  was a thinly veiled reference to the crazy week before.

“It reminded me how much work I still have to do, how much work  _all_ of us still have to do. It inspired me to recommit myself to making our city, our home, a better and safer place. Cheers.”

Everyone raised their glasses and easily dispersed into their conversations. The perfectly cheerful but not cheesy Christmas music picked up again.

Felicity watched as Oliver didn’t have anyone talking to him once his speech finished – unusual – and saw an opening. She figured that this would be a good time to make up for flaking out for the past week.

Absently, she grabbed Adrian’s hand and moved forward.

“Great speech,” she said.

Only she heard it twice.

She turned to see Susan Williams, the other voice, looking at her with a small smile and her eyebrows raised.

Felicity laughed nervously. Lord, this was awkward for her, but she couldn’t imagine how it felt for Oliver.

“Felicity Smoak, right?” she said.

“Right,” Felicity painted on a more confident – she hoped – smile. “Susan Williams?”

“Nice to finally meet you,” Susan tilted her head and looked at her in a way that reminded Felicity of those animals on  _Planet Earth_.

Like, in the narration of her life, David Attenborough would gently outline her doom.

_And here, the reporter has spotted her prey. Not even the head of the animal kingdom will save Smoak now…_

She shook the thoughts away.

“Nice to meet you too,” she responded.

“Must be a strange switch up from last year’s party, huh?” Susan asked, looking around the room and then pointedly at Felicity. “I mean, because Oliver wasn’t mayor then. I think this one is a huge improvement.”

Felicity bit the inside of her cheek. Susan Williams certainly wasn’t good at subtle.

_Play nice._

If she acted cliché and started a catfight, there was really only one person who would come out of it looking bad.

“It’s a great party, Oliver,” she said carefully. When Adrian’s hand landed on her shoulder, she shook herself into focus, “Um, you remember Adrian? Susan, this is Adrian Chase, my boyfriend.”

She stumbled on the word boyfriend, which she hated, but Susan turned her calculating look over to him instead.

“Yes, Mr. Chase,” she raised an eyebrow, “Your office gave me a hard time when I asked for a quote on the Orchid Bay murder.”

Adrian straightened.

“I think that going after a grieving widow for her statement justifies giving a nosy reporter a hard time.”

“Her cross examination raised some questions,” Susan said easily, “Can’t blame us for being curious.”

“Yes, and you just had to chase that curiosity as she lit candles at his memorial, did you?”

Oliver shot Felicity a look that seemed suspiciously like a  _get your date in line_ look, which she wanted to retort with a stubborn  _you first_.

“Okay,” she interjected – Oliver’s look was convincing – “Adrian, let’s dance?”

Adrian nodded and took her hand to lead them onto the small dance floor.

“That could have gone worse,” Felicity said lightly, loosely placing her arms around Adrian’s neck.

Adrian didn’t say anything. There was a hard line in between his eyebrows that she didn’t see often.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, frowning.

Adrian opened his mouth once, but then immediately closed it and huffed.

“I know I made jokes about it before,” he started, looking over Felicity’s shoulder, “But do I need to be the jealous boyfriend?”

This time Felicity furrowed her eyebrows.

“What?” she twisted her neck to follow his line of sight, where Oliver was chatting with the city planner, but watching them.

She sighed.

“Adrian…”

“Look, I know you guys were close before you dated, and I’m okay with you and Oliver being friends, you know that,” he said, “But that was… Strange. It looked like…”

“Like what?”

“Like you still had feelings for him,” Adrian said. It made her steps falter and their dance effectively stop.

She blinked.

“I…” her mouth gaped, and she realized that not saying anything would likely make things worse, “It was just weird. Seeing him with someone else. Like, I’m sure it was weird for him. I just need some time getting used to it. Maybe I’ll be her friend.”

The last part was like swallowing medicine – she didn’t want to say it.

Adrian smirked like he saw right through that.

“Sure,” he said with a laugh, pulling her in closer and resuming their dance.

The conversation was effectively dropped, and they swayed without saying anything. Felicity rested her head on his shoulder –

“We should get away for a bit.”

–  and then immediately snapped it up again.

“What?” she said, perhaps a little louder than she should have.

“I was just thinking, I saw my schedule today and I realized I could probably swing a week off work. Maybe if Mayor Queen is feeling giving for the holiday season.”

Felicity blinked.

“Where would we go?”

Adrian shrugged.

“Anywhere. Somewhere a little warm to get away from all the doom and gloom of Star City. How’s Nevada this time of year?”

Felicity laughed incredulously.

“You – you want to meet my mother?”

Adrian grinned, apparently enjoying how flustered she was getting.

“What, scared she won’t like me?”

God, that was  _one_ of her many concerns. She was worried Donna would compare him to Oliver, passive aggressively warn her to not make the same mistakes twice, or just say something that would make her doubt a good thing she had going.

But most importantly, Felicity was scared of taking that step.

She didn’t tell Adrian any of that.

“I’m afraid she’ll like you a little too much,” she said, “You’re serious about this?”

Adrian nodded.

“I want to get to know all the different parts of you, Ace,” he said quietly, “I’m in this.”

Felicity took a deep breath. His blue eyes were wide and serious.

“Okay,” she said, exhaling, “Let’s do this.”

Adrian beamed and pulled her closer. She let her head rest again, but not before she caught Oliver’s gaze on her.

* * *

A phone call meant Adrian had to leave abruptly, but standard decorum rules for Felicity meant that she had to stay for at least another hour and ask Thea if she needed a hand at least two more times.

She plucked another glass of champagne off a passing waiter’s tray.

“Where is that boyfriend you keep hiding from us?” Curtis said as he approached her, Paul at his elbow.

Felicity smiled – she really did intend for them to meet tonight.

“Work emergency,” she said easily, “Sorry. Next time?”

Curtis shook his head.

“You can’t hide him forever. I know he’s a special kind of pretty you want to keep to yourself but  _come on_. I need to meet him. For science.”

Curtis was one whine away from stomping his foot, and Felicity and Paul shared a laugh.

“God, I missed you this week,” she said wistfully.

Paul’s eyebrows crinkled.

“What do you mean?” he asked, “Curtis has been working on your start-up this week. And for months. If anything, I barely see him anymore.”

Felicity froze and belatedly realized that Curtis must have been using an imaginary start-up as an excuse for his nights Team Arrowing.

_A little warning would have been nice, dude._

“Right,” she said, “I just meant, we’ve been so busy lately that we don’t even have time to talk about life stuff. Like… boyfriends.”

She finished her sentence with an awkward wave of her hands. It sounded as paper thin as it felt, and she could see Paul jump to other conclusions. This, paired with what she could already sense was a tense atmosphere between the couple before she joined them, made Paul apparently reach his boiling point.

“It was nice seeing you tonight, Felicity,” he said, “We need to get going now.”

He stalked off towards the exit, Curtis followed him, calling out his name.

Felicity closed her eyes.

 _Shit_. She might have made that worse.

* * *

Just once, Felicity would have liked to spend her holiday season outside the hospital.

Not that she was complaining, she’d gladly be here instead of planning a funeral, but memories from last year left a bad taste in her mouth.

Oliver got the news of Curtis’ attack at the same time as her, so they rushed out of the party together. Thea knew enough to handle the excuses and Susan Williams, a distant part of Felicity noted smugly, was left standing alone with no one to talk to.

Felicity drove, Oliver was on the phone with John to update the rest of the team. It didn’t leave much time to chat, for which Felicity was grateful.

“Are you alright?” Felicity asked once they found Curtis’ hospital room. Paul turned around, looking visibly upset for reasons that probably had less to do with his husband’s current state and more with something else.

“I’m fine,” Curtis assured them, “Just a little banged up from the mugger.”

“It wasn’t a mugger,” Paul fumed, “It was the guy from the news – the Throwing Star Killer.”

He turned his angry gaze to Oliver.

“I thought your anti-crime unit was taking care of this,” he said accusingly.

Oliver’s jaw tightened and he nodded.

“They are, Paul. In fact, one of the detectives on the case just arrived and is outside if you’re ready to give your statement.”

As soon as Paul left, Oliver and Felicity turned to Curtis again.

“Prometheus?” Oliver asked.

Curtis nodded.

“He attacked me as… Me,” he said warily, “That’s bad, right?”

Oliver sighed.

“It means he knows you’re Mr. Terrific. Which means the rest of our identities are probably compromised, too.”

“Oliver, I’m sorry,” Curtis said, “I don’t know what I might have done, but…”

Oliver raised a hand to reassure him.

“Don’t be,” he said, “Just focus on getting better right now.”

“We should get going,” Felicity said. She could see the painkillers weighing Curtis’ eyes and she knew Oliver needed to talk about the state of their identities with her now, “Rest up, stay here. Don’t worry about us.”

“We’ll have someone stationed here in case Prometheus decides he wants to come back,” Oliver said. It was a logical thing to cover, but Felicity couldn’t help but think that it was ominous and probably wouldn’t help a person on the road to healing.

Once they were back in the car, Felicity turned to Oliver.

“So, Prometheus might know about all of us,” she said. There was no sense in beating around the bush anymore.

“He’s targeting the team now,” Oliver said, “We need to figure out protection for Paul, he’s a witness so he could be next. Call John, arrange something for Lyla and Sara. The others… might not have a place, so offer them the bunker, and you…”

He looked at her, and for the first time his eyes looked scared.

“Don’t worry about me,” she said almost reflexively, “I mean it. I actually… might not be in town next week.”

Oliver furrowed his eyebrows.

She sighed, this is not how she wanted to tell him.

“I… might be going to Vegas to visit my mom… with… Adrian,” she revealed the last part with a bit of a squeak, “It’s kind of a last-minute thing, like,  _today_  last minute, that’s why I hadn’t told you, and we haven’t even booked anything so if you need me to stay…”

“No, no,” Oliver shook his head, “That actually might be for the best. The farther you can get away from Prometheus while we figure this out, the better.”

She relaxed against her seat.

“So, taking a trip together? Meeting your mom? Those are big steps.” Oliver asked quietly. A wry, unreadable smile played at his mouth.

Felicity straightened again, and turned the key in her ignition.

“We should really be getting back to the bunker to inform the rest of the team,” she said.

She turned the radio up to play cheesy Christmas music, effectively cutting off any chance for conversation as they drove to the bunker.

* * *

Prometheus’ M.O. from before seemed to match up with his attack on Curtis today – who’s medical reports showed trace amounts of a drug that was once manufactured by a corrupt pharmaceuticals owner that the Hood killed.

Prometheus seemed to have a thing for referencing Oliver Queen: Year One moments that he would rather forget.

It took a turn for the worse when the team went out on the field, and the answer to how Curtis’ identity was compromised was revealed.

“ _What – Evelyn_?” Felicity listened to Oliver’s panting on the comms, “ _Why_?”

“ _Because you’re not a hero_ ,” she said angrily, “ _You’re a fraud. The city needs to be saved from you_.”

It was the last thing Felicity heard from her end, because she disconnected her comm.

Oliver was mid curse before he disconnected his – and all Felicity was left with was static in her ear and shock that kept her seated.

She waited silently as everyone returned, and all of them argued about  _everything:_ why Evelyn betrayed them, who was at fault – or rather, who wasn’t – and how much she would have told Prometheus.

Felicity worked on reconfiguring the bunker’s security code, as well as flagging Evelyn’s face in Oliver’s security team, just in case.

She felt responsible. She had vetted the young girl, and wanted so badly for it to  _work_ that she might have missed the warning signs, dismissed her resentment against Oliver and let her become vulnerable for Prometheus.

She pushed all of those thoughts to the side and instead geared herself up for a long night researching Justin Claybourne, Claybourne Pharmaceuticals, the  _human remains_ Prometheus left, the strange baby photo, and tried to ignore the nagging feeling she got when Adrian wouldn’t text her back.

* * *

After what felt like weeks of knowing nothing about Prometheus, Felicity felt just a small amount of glee at some of the puzzle pieces starting to snap together.

The smallest amount – people were being murdered and all that.

Either way, digging deep into court records and revealing that Claybourne had an illegitimate child he tried to hide from the world – a child who would be about thirty years old today – was a win, and five years on Team Arrow taught Felicity that they needed to celebrate wins.

She didn’t really plan on popping champagne over the breakthrough, but she was disappointed when the alert came in that Prometheus had abducted a police detective who worked directly under Oliver in his anti-crime unit interrupted her good mood.

Oliver insisted on going alone. He felt personally responsible, that he killed Claybourne four years ago, that Curtis had already gotten hurt because of him, that Evelyn’s anger towards him was why their identities were not compromised, and that an innocent detective working the case was now in danger.

Felicity listened tensely on the comms, the whole team crowded around her. No one said a word as they watched his little dot walk across the map.

She could barely make out his footsteps. They were slower, more hesitant, and every so often Oliver would see something that would make his breath catch.

It made her wish more than ever she had eyes on him, but for now she relied on the sound of his voice.

“Getting on the rooftop now,” he said quietly.

Then she heard Prometheus.

“Did you hesitate at all when you killed him, or was he just another name you crossed off your list?”

Prometheus’ voice set Felicity’s teeth on edge. It was clear he used a voice modulator like Oliver did, but it was chilling.

“If you want revenge,” Oliver said, “I’m right here.”

“This is about  _so much more_ than revenge,” Prometheus said. She could feel movement against the comm, so she knew they were moving again, “I’ve studied you, Oliver Queen. I know everything – who you love, who you trust, who you’ve hurt.”

John’s hand fell against the back of her chair, as if sensing the way her pulse picked up at the words.

“Do you know how easy it was to turn Evelyn against you? How easy it will be to turn them all? You’re not a hero, Oliver. You’re a killer. I’m going to show them that. I’m going to show them how everything you touch dies.”

It was a chilling promise, but it made Felicity’s spine straighten – he was wrong, they wouldn’t turn against him, and she would die before letting that happen.

There was more movement. Oliver didn’t respond, but Felicity knew the sound of his arrows nocking anywhere. Not just once, three times before an unmistakable thud.

Oliver sighed.

“He’s dead,” he said softly, “It’s over.”

Felicity felt relief rush all over her at the words, making her feel light from her head to the tips of her toes. She reached up to tell him to get home safe, but the familiar chilling voice returned.

“Four years, I’ve waited to make you answer for your sins,” Prometheus continued – he wasn’t dead, “I told you, Oliver, everything you touch dies.”

Oliver gasped, and the fumbling around was something she was familiar with. He rushed to turn the comm off, leaving the rest of the team staring at Felicity’s monitors, shocked.

Immediately, Felicity turned to his tracker. He was already on the way back to the bunker, that was a good sign.

The rest of them dispersed to different areas of the lair, but no one would say anything. Felicity wondered what happened – Oliver didn’t miss, he fired three arrows, how was Prometheus still alive? And more importantly, what had Oliver seen that had him so scared that he needed to turn his comm off?

Not ten minutes later, the sound of the elevator door opening made Felicity jump out of her seat.

Oliver’s hood and mask were already off, and he looked to the floor, shoulders hanging low.

“What happened out there?” John asked, “Did you see the missing detective? Or was it just Prometheus?”

“Did you kill him?” Felicity asked, “Prometheus – it sounded like…”

Oliver winced. Something unplaceable crossed his face – pain, regret, a special Oliver-brand of self loathing she was intimately familiar with.

“Prometheus… he staged the detective,” Oliver said. His voice was low and dry, “He duct-taped his mouth, put the weapon in his hand and put him in his suit and mask.”

Felicity’s hand fell to her chest.

“Oh my god,” she could see where this was going. She almost told Oliver to stop – she didn’t want him to say it, to relive that pain.

“He knew I was there to kill him,” he said lowly, “He calculated every moment perfectly.”

Anger laced through all of his words, or it would have, if he didn’t sound so defeated.

Finally, he looked at Felicity.

“I need you to find everything you can about Detective Billy Malone. His life, his family, anything.” he said, “Right now, please.”

Felicity wasn’t about to argue with him in his current state, so she walked to her computers.

It took all but two seconds, but she found nothing that Oliver would need to hear at the moment.

“Felicity,” he urged.

“I… the detective had a wife and a newborn, around three months old. He’d been on the force for about seven years. Clean record. He worked in your crime unit…”

Oliver’s face crumpled for a moment before he composed himself.

“Oliver, this isn’t your fault, you couldn’t have known…”

“I proved his point,” Oliver said, “I was quick to kill without even hesitating, without even considering how easy it was. And… everyone I come in contact with, everyone dies. He’s right.”

Felicity stood up. She refused to accept that.

“Oliver, this was one mistake. We won’t make the same one twice, and we will stop Prometheus,” she insisted.

“Curtis already got hurt,” he said, “Evelyn left. I think the rest of you should get as far away from me as you possibly can.”

John stepped forward.

“Oliver, we are exactly where we need to be.”

* * *

Felicity got home late that night, bone tired and ready to sleep for the next week. Oliver had her set up a fund for the detective’s wife and child, and they threw in some of their own money before it would go public once he was found and ID’d by the SCPD. She only left after she could see Oliver was at least a little satisfied with the work they’d done.

She hadn’t heard from Adrian much that day, so she was surprised to see him waiting on the couch.

“Hi,” she said, rubbing her eye, “I didn’t know you were coming over.”

“I wanted to surprise you,” Adrian admitted, “To make up for the missed calls – things got a little busy at work, I had to take over one of my colleague’s cases. But looks like you’ve been busier.”

“Yeah,” Felicity joined him on the couch, letting her heels slip off. She set her phone and purse down on the table and her head fall back. She thought of a quick lie. “Oliver and Thea wanted my tech support on this project they’re launching. Went later than I expected.”

“Maybe we need that vacation now more than ever,” Adrian started.

Felicity opened her eyes and straightened.

“I… I don’t think we should go on that trip right now,” she said regretfully, “Things are a little crazy, and it would probably be best if we just… wait. I’m sorry.”

Adrian gave her an easy-going smile.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, “I was going to say the same thing – with the work stuff, it probably isn’t the best time.”

Felicity leaned back again, relieved.

Her phone buzzed on the table, and she tensed at the sight of Oliver’s name. When she left the bunker, he made it clear that he would be taking the next week off to clear his head. Whatever he was calling about had to be important.

When she reached out to answer it, Adrian gently flipped it over and hit the power button.

“Maybe, since our other plans got cancelled,” he said, moving closer to her, “We can just have tonight. No other interruptions. Oliver’s gotten enough of you today, don’t you think?”

The mental arguments Felicity worked up over what possible emergencies were waiting for her on the other end of that phone called dissolved when Adrian leaned down to kiss her.

“Okay,” she said.

She could have tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I /know/ that killing Billy is a little less impactful when he’s not anyone’s boyfriend, but I tried to give reason for why it would still matter to the team (I couldn’t not kill him because the death set off other things in 5B).
> 
> Also, when I started this I smugly told myself SW would not have a part but then, looking over s5's plot I realized… She needed to be there too. Sorry if that icks anyone out. 
> 
> Next time: It feels like all Oliver and Felicity do these days is fight. There’s this strange girl in glasses who talks a lot – and it’s not Felicity, for once –and she’s making some interesting offers. Adrian wants to move forward.  
>  


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It feels like all Oliver and Felicity do these days is fight. There's a girl in glasses making Felicity some interesting offers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all. Sorry for the month long disappearance. Life got hectic, but I'm back and hopefully will finish this fic before season 7 starts.
> 
> This chapter powers through a chunk of 5B. There is a central theme that connects all the eps together, which is why I framed it as I did. Stick with me, all my choices are deliberate. Speaking of my choices: Oliver miiiiight get on your nerves a bit here. Sorry. Trust the journey and that Olicity will make it in the end.
> 
> Sidenote: the one ep I did completely skip over is 5x13 for a myriad of personal reasons that can be summed up by: I do what I want. Thanks for understanding!

When Adrian fell asleep, Felicity checked her phone.

A few missed calls from Oliver, and about a dozen text messages – with variations of ‘911 in the bunker’ and ‘please call me back’. She was a little surprised he didn’t come banging her door down. But either way, she felt bad ignoring a 911.

Then there was a message from Lyla telling her that John had been arrested again, as part of a set up by Prometheus. Shit shit shit shit fuck. She should have checked her phone.

Making her way back to the main room, she called Oliver back.

“Hi,” she said, “I’m sorry I missed your calls. What happened?”

“I…” Oliver sounded a little choked up, “I don’t know how to say it. I don’t think you’ll believe me unless you see for yourself. Can you come down? I know it’s late.”

His tone of voice was strange, which made her think that he might not have known about John yet.

Felicity already had her coat on.

“On my way.”

* * *

Oliver was right. She wouldn’t have believed him over the phone.

Not that she wouldn’t want to. She grieved for Laurel. She mourned for weeks. Her death changed them all, it changed how they interacted as a team and it changed how she felt every time they went out in the field.

Some of her nightmares involved watching her friend flatline.

But that didn’t mean she could simply accept that Laurel was back from the dead, unscathed.

Something was off.

Naturally, Felicity had to take things into her own hands, because Oliver was too accepting. He too readily ate up what was happening without thinking for a moment of the possibilities – and she knew why. She knew how much guilt he still held onto from Laurel’s death.

But that’s why he had Felicity.

The party was something she thought of on the fly. A quick, easy way to observe Laurel. to see if something was off. Too many things didn’t add up. Sara would never drop Laurel into the present without either sticking around to explain or have another member of her team there. And she wouldn’t wait to stick her nine months after Laurel’s death, letting them grieve and recover only to get her back. It just didn’t make sense.

Laurel agreed to it easily, and probably would have had more to say on the matter if Felicity didn’t pull Oliver away to visit John in prison.

They got visitation pretty easily – which had to be perks of being the Mayor, Felicity assumed.

“I can’t believe she’s back,” John said once Oliver blurted out what happened with Laurel.

Oliver shook his head in disbelief, phone still held against his ear.

“I walked into the bunker and … she was just there like nothing happened. It was a gift.”

“How much does she know about what happened?” John asked.

Nothing, Felicity was willing to bet, that couldn’t be learned through looking them up.

“We’re easing her into it. There’s a lot to process.” Oliver said. He made it sound simple.

“Of course,” John responded, “The new team. Prometheus.”

“That I killed his father,” Oliver said darkly.

“Lyla and I are working on finding his mother,” Felicity interjected before he could go down that path, “Once we get her, get his identity, we’ll get the ball rolling.”

“What about the person who you said trained the two of you?” John asked Oliver.

“She doesn’t like to stay in one spot for very long,” Oliver said vaguely, “But I’m working on it. In the mean time, we need to get you out of here.”

“We did that, remember? And now here I am, back on the inside.”

“John –” Oliver interjected, and Felicity leaned back. When they first broke John out of prison, Felicity was wary for so many reasons – that he would be a fugitive, that they would take his life away from him, and that he would end up in this exact situation. Right back in jail and feeling more defeated than before.

“No, Oliver, I’m fighting these charges head on, the right way.”

“We’re gonna need a plan,” Oliver said.

“I’ll _really_ need one hell of a lawyer.”

Felicity perked up at that.

“Actually, funny you should mention,” she said with a little smile, “I might know a guy.”

Across the glass, John smirked a little and turned to Oliver, who shrugged.

“He’s a good choice.”

* * *

The party went off without a hitch. Adrian wasn’t there, he was looking over the file Oliver sent him regarding John’s case and considering taking it on. Felicity hadn’t pulled out the girlfriend card yet, but she was thinking about it.

In the meantime, she watched Laurel carefully as she spoke with Thea on the phone and mingled with the new team members.

She felt paranoid. She couldn’t help it.

Later, once the party wrapped up – after a few touching words from Oliver – Felicity waited until her apartment emptied out and took the glass Laurel used back to the bunker.

She hoped no one followed her, because she was not prepared to answer to a possibly grouchy Oliver why she was chasing this lead.

Unfortunately, Rory did.

“What are you doing?” he asked, making her jump up and away from her screen.

“It’s…” she threw a hand over the screen to try and cover it up, but it was useless, “Nothing.”

“Are you running a DNA analysis? Is that a glass from your house?”

There was no hiding it now.

“Yes. It’s Laurel’s glass.”

“You took that from the party?”

“Well, the party was just something I put together to collect her DNA. So, yeah.”

Rory raised his eyebrows.

“Wow, there’s looking a gift horse in the mouth and then there’s…” he shook his head.

“Being driven by paranoia and looking for genetic markers? Yeah, I’m aware.” Felicity rolled her eyes. She didn’t need any judgement right now, “Thank you.”

The computer beeped.

“Well?”

Felicity scanned the screen.

“The DNA matches,” she said. It was disappointing. She should be happy. It still felt off.

“That’s good,” Rory said, “We can cross off shape shifter. All that’s left is Polyjuice Potion. Or, you know, evil twin.”

He said it with a laugh, but her eyes widened. STAR Labs – Black Siren – _of course._ It all made sense. She needed to get a hold of Cisco.

“I was just kidding,” Rory warned.

“No, you don’t understand –” Felicity wanted to explain it to him, but she was cut off by a horrible sonic scream. The glass on her table shattered and the shards fell to the floor.

Rory and Felicity covered their ears, but it was too late. The force of her cry sent Felicity flying across the room and crashing into a table. She knocked into the ground with a groan, holding her head. Nothing was broken, but she knew she would be horribly bruised later.

Distantly she heard Rory try and approach Black Siren and another horrible, shrill cry reverberated through the space, making Felicity’s head fall again. Her ears were ringing so loud nothing else registered.

“Laurel!” Oliver shouted. Felicity couldn’t see what else he did, but suddenly, she was gone.

His footsteps were quick against the floor.

“Hey, hey,” he crouched down and grabbed Felicity’s arm. She finally found the strength to get up and he steadied her, “Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

“I’ll be fine,” Felicity said, adjusting her glasses. When she winced, his grip tightened on her in concern. “But that…”

Oliver looked up to where Black Siren once stood.

“That’s not our Laurel.”

* * *

One phone call with Cisco answered their questions.

Prometheus broke Black Siren out of their holding cell.

She didn’t even want to consider how he knew about her, and how he did such a thing without STAR Labs’ sophisticated infrastructure stopping them.

But unfortunately, she didn't have time for that, because Adrian wanted to discuss Diggle's case and Oliver asked her to go to City Hall.

It was her first time in the mayor's office in months. It looked different at night, she observed. Most days she spent her unemployed daytime hours there when chasing leads got boring. But that was before Adrian.

“Thanks for coming in,” Oliver said once Adrian arrived. He glanced at Felicity like he was surprised she was here and sent her a questioning look, which she ignored.

“No problem, I actually needed to talk with you as well,” Adrian said as he sat down at Oliver’s desk in the seat next to Felicity. He took her hand and squeezed it once.

“That file I sent you?” Oliver nodded in confirmation when Adrian held it up, “John Diggle is my former bodyguard and current friend.”

“Mine too,” Felicity piped up. Adrian glanced her and sent a smile.

“Your friend is facing charges for espionage, murder, escaping a federal prison, and attempted theft of a WMD,” Adrian said with a raised eyebrow.

“He’s innocent,” Felicity insisted.

“So why did he escape a federal prison?” Adrian asked.

“Because he’s innocent,” Oliver said, “He’s being framed by a 3-star general. John doesn’t think he’d get a fair trial in the court system.”

“That’s where we hoped you’d come in,” Felicity said, throwing her best girlfriend smile Adrian’s way.

“Guys, I’m a city prosecutor, not a military defense attorney.”

“Adrian,” Felicity leaned forward, “Please. John Diggle is a good man. He needs someone who works outside the military system.”

Adrian looked at the file again, flipping through the information.

“Getting a judge to even authorize me to pro-hac would be a miracle,” he said hesitantly.

Felicity shot Oliver a triumphant grin.

“Is that a yes?” she asked hopefully.

“It’s more of a ‘God help me,’” Adrian said, setting the file down, “It’s those eyes – they’re dangerous, Ace.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“Adrian, I owe you one,” Oliver said seriously, standing up to shake the other man’s hand.

“This might be more than one,” Adrian said as he rose as well, “Actually, there’s something I need to tell you about.”

He looked to Felicity hesitantly, and she realized this was something that he didn’t know she was supposed to hear.

“It’s alright,” Oliver said, “You can say anything in front of her.”

“Have you heard about the circumstances around the death of that ACU detective? Billy Malone?”

Oliver and Felicity froze. Felicity could see as the hurt passed over Oliver’s face as he slipped the mask on.

“I didn’t.”

“He was wearing Prometheus’ outfit when he was killed. His mouth was taped, he had a weapon in his hand.”

“What are you saying?” Oliver asked.

“It looks like the detective was set up, like the Green Arrow had been manipulated into killing him. I made sure the cops who caught it won’t say anything, and I’ll handle the coroner next.”

Felicity’s eyebrows furrowed.

“You’re going to cover this up?” she asked.

“If the city finds out that a member of the anti-crime unit was Prometheus? There’s going to be panic. If they find out the Green Arrow killed him? An innocent detective?” Adrian shook his head, “Either way, we need to keep this quiet while we figure it out.”

“Thank you, again, Adrian,” Oliver said, shaking Adrian’s hand. The relief in his voice was evident only to Felicity, who knew how much the staged death bothered Oliver.

His phone started buzzing and he turned away, leaving Adrian and Felicity alone for the first time.

“I’ll see you later?” Adrian asked, leaning down to brush his lips against Felicity’s cheek.

“Yeah,” she said quietly, one eye on Oliver, feeling strangely self-conscious at the display of affection in front of her ex. “Thank you again for doing this. It means the world to me.”

Adrian shrugged and grinned, the corners of his eyes crinkling.

“I thought it couldn’t hurt to get some brownie points,” he joked. She gave him a little shove towards the door and he left.

Oliver finished up his call when she turned to him.

“Who was it?” she asked when his face tensed.

“It was Laurel,” he said tightly, “She wants to meet. She tells me that Prometheus is forcing her to do his bidding.”

Oliver didn’t move immediately, and realization hit Felicity.

“Wait, you believe that? Seriously?” she asked incredulously.

“I have to see what she says,” Oliver said, “Let’s go back to the bunker.”

Felicity bit back her frustration. This was definitely a set up, but she wasn’t going to argue with him about it just yet.

She waited until the team suited up and headed down to the Black Canary statue.

So maybe she was being paranoid, like Rory thought. Or untrusting, like Oliver. But years on the team made her trust her gut – that’s why she muted Oliver’s comm and ordered the rest of the team to attack.

It didn’t end well, Black Siren ended up sonic screaming the statue down, but they got her, and she was now in a prison cell in their bunker. Felicity would call that a successful mission.

 Oliver was fuming by the time he returned to the bunker.

“I told you guys _not_ to engage,” he yelled.

Rory, Rene and Curtis looked between him and Felicity with wide eyes, and she could see as all three of them struggled to find a good excuse.

“Oh jeez,” she muttered, standing up, “I told them to move on her.”

Oliver turned his angry gaze to her.

“Since when are they taking orders from you?”

“I don’t know,” she straightened her shoulders, “But I kinda like it. I don’t trust her, I told them to move.”

“I had the situation under control,” Oliver growled, “She told me Prometheus forced her to do this. Now, even if that wasn’t true, she was going to give us valuable intel on him.”

Felicity’s fingers dug into her crossed arms. Oliver was way too smart to be acting this dumb.

“You don’t know that her intel was sound. She’s playing you, Oliver, come on,” she said, “She’s not her, she’s not from this Earth.”

Oliver looked at her for a long time. They had gotten so close in their confrontation that the tips of their toes were touching.

“I need some air,” he said eventually, stalking off.

The rest of the team watched from the bunker steps with widened eyes.

Felicity had a very Oliver Queen like thought:

She really needed to punch something.

* * *

Oliver came back from his walk much later. When he found her, she had changed into some of her spare workout clothes and decided to expel her energy on the punching bags.

“Keep your wrist straight,” he said quietly as he approached her. When she turned to look at him, he gave her a little shrug, “Just so you don’t jam it.”

She didn’t say anything but adjusted her boxing gloves.

“I spoke to Laurel.”

That caught her attention.

“When did she become Laurel?” Felicity asked angrily, “She’s not Laurel. It’s ridiculous that I even need to say that.”

Angry tears sprung in her eyes. It was such an insult to their friend’s memory that he would equate the two.

“Felicity,” Oliver said steadily, “I’m not going to pretend like I understand… parallel universes and everything. But if I’m going to believe in them, and I’m going to have to now, then I _need_ to believe that differences are caused by circumstance. Why can’t we change this Laurel’s circumstance?”

Felicity shook her head. He was such a hero, down to his core, and usually she loved that about him. Today it only frustrated her.

“You think you can save her? After she’s thrown in with Prometheus?” she asked.

“Under duress,” Oliver retorted.

“So she says.”

“I think I can reach her.”

Felicity threw her hands in the air.

“When exactly did you find the time to get a PhD in psychology?” she asked.

Oliver gave her one of his frustrating, confident smiles. Only, it was muted.

“I’m a quick study,” he said with a wink.

“You are unbelievable,” she called out as he walked away.

She needed to get out of the bunker for a few hours. Not with Black Siren just in the other room, she feared she would do something stupid.

Like punch _her_.

* * *

When she got home, Adrian was at her dining table with no less than a thousand papers scattered around him.

“So, I take it John’s case is going well?” she asked with a smile, setting her purse down and joining the seat next to him.

Adrian sent her a playful glare.

“You’re lucky you’re cute,” he said, “And that I agreed to the case.”

Felicity smiled, brushing her hair back tiredly.

“You alright?” he asked, “Looks like you had a worse day than I did.”

She shook her head.

“I’m just…” she bit the inside of her cheek, “Frustrated. I kinda got into a fight with Oliver.”

“What happened?”

She blinked. She didn’t realize he would follow up with questions, but that was stupid of her.

“City Hall stuff,” she said vaguely, “He’s trying to… resurrect this old bill that didn’t work, and I’m telling him he shouldn’t try to force the past into the present, but he just won’t listen.”

It felt like an adequate analogy.

“Sounds rough,” Adrian winced sympathetically.

“He’s just so _stubborn_ ,” she continued, rubbing at her eye tiredly, “Once he decides something it’s so hard to change his mind. And I need him to see that this is a _bad idea_.”

“Maybe you should let him go through with it,” Adrian suggested. When she turned to him with a questioning gaze he shrugged, “It’s his mistake to make. You warned him, he didn’t listen. That’s hardly your fault. He’s not your responsibility anymore.”

Felicity chewed at her lip. She couldn’t just let him make the mistake – not when the stakes were as high as they were in Team Arrow, but she couldn’t fault Adrian for not knowing.

“I’ll think about it,” she said, “For now, I have one more thing I need to try.”

It was time she had a chat with Black Siren.

* * *

The conversation with Black Siren went precisely as expected. Annoying smirks and baiting Felicity into getting angry aside, Black Siren took _her_ bait.

The power cut off before they could finish their conversation, but Felicity got her to drink from a glass of tracker-laced water before that and wasn't too concerned when not-Laurel disappeared.

Oliver was not as calm at the turn of events, and he stormed into the bunker.

“How did she escape?” he demanded.

“The power went off,” Rory explained, “And her dampener along with it.”

Oliver didn’t look satisfied with that answer. There was about to be more yelling, directed at the wrong person, so Felicity interjected.

“I let her go,” she said.

Oliver turned his angry glare to her.

“You did _what?_ ” he demanded.

“I’m sorry, but, just relax,” she raised a hand, “I put tracking nanites in her water, the same ones we had used to find Merlyn. We use it to track her, get a location on Prometheus and get him.”

Oliver did not relax. Not that she figured he would.

“Can we have the room, please?” he addressed the other members of the team without looking away from Felicity.

The others left with little protest.

“You…” Oliver shook his head, “You could have been hurt.”

“Jeez, what happened to ‘if we change her circumstances’?” Felicity asked.

Oliver gritted his teeth.

“You risked your life to get a line on Prometheus,” he said, “Why?”

“I had to,” Felicity insisted, “I couldn’t keep watching you struggle with this.”

“I’m fine,” he insisted.

She shook her head. He wasn’t. The death of that cop bothered him, shook him to the core and made him second guess all of his choices.

He walked over to the monitors, where a recording from Felicity and Black Siren’s earlier conversation was queued up.

“ _There’s a part of him that blames himself for Laurel’s death. It’s who he is. When he looks at you, he doesn’t see Laurel. He sees his chance at redemption._ ”

" _Wow,_ " Black Siren laughed over the speakers, " _It must be so frustrating when he doesn't listen to you._ "

" _I'm used to it,_ " Felicity answered calmly.

Oliver didn’t turn around.

“Like I said,” he said simply. “You know me better than anyone.”

She joined him next to the monitors, looking at the smirking image of Black Siren.

“I failed Laurel before,” he continued, his voice low and pained, “I can’t – I can’t fail her again.”

Tears sprung in Felicity’s eyes and she wiped at the corners furiously.

“I don’t need to keep reminding you that this _isn’t_ her,” she said, "Helping this person won't bring her back."

“I know that,” Oliver turned to her, his eyes were red, “She’s gone. But this… this is the last chance I have, okay?”

It was impossible to argue with him when he looked at her like that.

“I’ll let you know when the trackers go live,” she said with a sigh.

He placed and arm on her shoulder in a silent thank you and left her alone next to the computers.

She sat in her chair but didn’t have a moment to relax when her phone started buzzing and Adrian’s name flashed.

“Hey,” she answered tiredly.

“Hey, did I catch you at a bad time?” Adrian asked.

She shook her head, even though he couldn’t see.

“Just… stuff.”

“You sound upset,” Adrian said in concern, “Is everything okay?”

The question made more tears mist Felicity’s vision.

“More fighting with Oliver,” she said, “Same old, same old. I know you said I should let him be but…”

She frowned.

“It’s so hard to just watch him act impulsively, and set himself up for disappointment,” she ranted, “I don’t know how to make him see that I’m on his side here. And it _hurts_ when he won’t listen to me after all this time.”

Black Siren did one thing right earlier – she got under Felicity’s skin. She may have been used to Oliver not listening, but it didn’t make it any easier.

“I’m sorry,” Adrian said sympathetically, “That sounds rough.”

Felicity shook herself out of it. She could not _believe_ she just ranted to her current boyfriend about her ex twice now.

“It’s okay. Um, what about you? Any updates on John’s case?”

“Working on it,” there was some rustling in the background, so Felicity assumed he was still at work, “It’s just as tough as I predicted. But I have one more trick up my sleeve. I _will_ get him out of there, Felicity, I promise.”

Felicity leaned back.

“Thank you, again, for doing this,” she said, “I can’t explain how much it means to me.”

There was more she wanted to say, but her computer beeped as the tracker went live – she had a location on Black Siren.

* * *

Next time she imagined punching a smug villain in the face, she really would have to work on internalizing that fantasy.

Not that it wasn’t _extremely_ satisfying to wipe the smirk off Black Siren’s face. But damn, it hurt.

“It was a good punch,” Oliver said with a smile as he iced her hand.

“Typing is gonna suck for the next few days,” she groaned, “But I guess it serves me right.”

Oliver sent her a questioning look.

“Your plan worked,” he said, “Prometheus was with her, just like you said.”

“If it worked, we’d be cuffing him right now.”

“We’ll get there,” Oliver assured her.

“I’m sorry she wasn’t her,” Felicity said. The normal ‘I told you so’ dance didn’t feel so appropriate this time.

Oliver shrugged.

“I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you,” he said, “I’m working on it.”

Felicity smiled. Somewhere between life threatening, looking Prometheus in the eye – mask – and rolling around the warehouse with Oliver like a strange reprise of their old Tarzan-and-Jane routine made it easier to let go of the frustration from earlier.

It was weird, how distant they were these days, but how their instincts kicked in on the field and brought them together.

“It’s okay,” she responded, "I'll hold you to that."

They shared smiles for just a moment longer than probably acceptable, and Felicity felt the familiar creeping discomfort as she remembered what they were – and weren’t anymore.

“I should get going,” she said regretfully.

Oliver nodded. She felt his eyes on her the entire walk to the elevator.

* * *

When she returned back home, it was midday. She didn’t even realize that the showdown with Prometheus and Black Siren took all night.

Adrian was lounging on the couch, rubbing his cheek thoughtfully.

“Hey,” she greeted him, “You had that meeting for John’s case this morning, right?”

“I did,” Adrian smiled, “Your friend has a mean right hook.”

Felicity furrowed her eyebrows.

“He punched you?” she asked, “What happened?”

Adrian shook his head.

“Don’t worry, I told him too,” he said, “Long story. It worked, though, I got to charge him under my jurisdiction as DA and we're one step closer to getting your friend free.”

She dropped to the couch and reached down to the strap of her heel.

“Still fighting with Oliver?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“We have a way of working it out after all these years,” she said with a smile.

Adrian’s eyes tightened.

“That’s good, Felicity, that’s really good,” he said, “I’m glad.”

He pulled her in closer and she flicked the TV remote on, so quick that she thought she imagined the look of disappointment that crossed his face.

* * *

Felicity figured that, with Oliver recruiting a new Black Canary in Hub City, she would get a little bit of a vacation to recuperate from the absolute _bonkers_ week before.

Sadly, not. Adrian informed her and Oliver that there was a file on John in the NSA, being the only missing puzzle piece standing in the way of John's freedom.

Hacking Adrian’s laptop to access all the intel he had on it was not fun.

Hacking the NSA, however, was really, _really_ fun.

She hadn’t had a chance to do a good old fashioned, government secrets hack in forever. Lately with Team Arrow it was all facial recognition and making sure the team didn’t die out there. Which was noble work and all, but this felt _awesome._

She was downright giddy when she told Oliver such, and the look of concern on his face didn’t even put a cloud over it.

When he left for Hub City, she found herself falling deep into the dark web – and, god, it felt good. The NSA looked like it was a dead end, but nothing ever stayed gone, so if the road to John’s freedom existed somewhere she was going to find it.

Then she got a strange message.

 _Ghost Fox Goddess_ was one of her more cringey memories from college, though part of her still maintained that it was a badass name. Still, she hadn’t heard her original alter-ego in years – Oliver would be so disappointed to hear he wasn’t the first person to give her a codename – and she hadn’t expected to hear it ever again.

It brought back memories of a vastly different Felicity – dark hair, dark her, hellbent on attacking corporations and governments just to revel in the power trip of it all.

It wasn’t a good look. Or particularly healthy. But damn if it wasn’t fun.

 _Kojo Sledgehammer_ offering help only if Felicity could meet IRL concerned Rory. But Felicity was willing to do whatever it took to exonerate John.

She still took Rory to be her backup though. In case things went south.

But when this girl – and she was a girl, not some big scary hackerman like Felicity had feared – started talking, Felicity found herself getting reeled in.

The first order of business was disconnecting the comm in her ear. There were certain things Rory didn’t need to hear about her just yet, and she didn’t know how much he would go telling Oliver.

She was surprised when this girl started explaining how much Felicity’s actions started inspiring her to do her own hacktivism – she was a little unsure if she should be proud (was this how Oliver felt with his band of merry vigilantes?).

“I never thought I’d see you again,” this girl revealed, “On the dark nets. It was so exciting.”

Felicity nodded.

“I was looking for an NSA file to exonerate an innocent man.”

“John Diggle,” the girl answered. Felicity tilted her head to the side. “My organization does its own homework.”

That peaked Felicity’s interest.

“Organization?”

“We call ourselves Helix,” she said vaguely. The name was unfamiliar to Felicity, and she made a note to check that out when she got home, sleep be damned. “A month ago, we hacked Echelon. The NSA’s information gathering system.”

Okay, Felicity was officially impressed. And jealous. She never had time for that kind of thing anymore. And she imagined that system had _a lot_ of interesting information.

“We managed to scour eight petabytes of data…” she said, reaching into her pocket.

The girl pulled up a black flash drive that reflected in the dim street lights. Pinched between her fingers and held in front of Felicity, it felt something like the forbidden fruit.

“… Including everything you’ll need to help your friend. We call the data cache Pandora. With it, you can take down everyone from politicians, bankrupt companies, spark revolutions.”

Felicity’s head spun at the infinite possibilities this girl was describing.

“This isn’t just about John, is it?” she asked.

“You inspired me to make the world a better place,” the girl admitted, “And now I’m hoping I can inspire _you_ to return to your roots. Be the great hacktivist you used to be.”

She handed Felicity the flash drive and left her on the bench, with Felicity feeling more uncertain than she ever had before.

She sat on the file for a day, waiting for Oliver and company to return from Hub City. The girl’s words stuck with her – she had no idea people had been watching her like that, seeing her go from a hacktivist to corporate. They had no idea the work she did for Oliver as the Green Arrow but, even that was…

Well, it wasn't exactly taking down corrupt one percenters like it was four years ago.

When Oliver did come back, he looked like he needed her good news badly. His reaction to the flash drive and having information to free Diggle was not as excited as she hoped.

“That’s incredible, but how did you pull that off?”

Felicity shrugged.

“Long story.”

He watched her suspiciously. A younger Felicity Smoak would have shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, but she was more well trained.

“Is there something you’re not telling me, Felicity?” he asked.

There was a comment on the tip of her tongue about how there was _lots_ they didn’t tell each other these days, but she bit it back.

“This is good news, Oliver,” she said, “I’m going to go leak this, you should go tell John he’s coming home to Lyla and Sara soon.”

He looked a little hesitant as he exited, and she finally walked over to her computers.

She plugged the black flash drive in with little ceremony, glancing over her shoulder once before opening Pandora.

Immediately, dozens of files began opening – information on the corrupt of Star City, of the U.S government, of corrupt prison networks, of cross country deals flashed across Felicity’s eyes.

_Holy shit._

* * *

She just wanted to make it clear that, after one particularly disastrous incident, Russia was never on Felicity’s travel list.

If she had to choose, it would be something a little more fun, with less shady mob bosses and pre-existing bad memories.

Still, she knew she had to accompany the team to Russia the minute John explained that the General who tried to frame him was now looking to sell nukes overseas.

It was just as she told John and Oliver – she promised herself that after Havenrock she would never let another event like that happen if she could help it.

So that’s why she returned to the land of a thousand Isabel Rochevs.

She could feel some of her control slipping when she took Curtis and Rory to question a guy she found on the Pandora drive for intel – but she couldn’t help it. All she knew at that moment was that she needed to get the answers, and this guy giving intel to the Kremlin hardly mattered.

Rory called it blackmail – and then of course he went running to Oliver.

Couldn’t trust anyone these days.

Still, it was hard to ignore the look of disappointment on Oliver’s face. She knew he had the impression that she was supposed to be the balance of the team, the balance for him, but that person had honestly gone a long time ago – that person had seen too many bodies dropped to keep going the way she had.

That person now had the mysterious organization Helix in her corner. Something that wasn’t Arrow, wasn’t Oliver related. It felt good.

So what if Oliver’s eyes looked so damn disheartened when Rory tattled on her.

But things took a turn for the worst when it looked like they were seconds away from a nuke going off.

She couldn’t disable it – and Rory was arguing with her, and she could feel the pressure mounting the same way she felt just under a year ago – at ARGUS under Lyla’s orders. Not again, she promised herself. She wouldn’t let this happen again.

Her rapid typing only made things worse, the countdown accelerated in what Felicity assumed was a failsafe.

“Any attempt to disarm the nuke will exponentially pace up the countdown clock,” Felicity cried, looking at the screen.

Then, instinct took over. She made her way towards the plane before Rory stopped her.

“Wh—what the hell are you doing?” he demanded.

“Hoping like hell I can figure out how to fly a plane,” she said – wasn’t it obvious? Her mind was working in overdrive as the numbers on the nuke continued to decrease. This was _it_ – her chance to atone for her mistakes.

The realization made her panic dissipate - she felt at peace.

“You’re _what_?!”

“I can’t disarm the nuke,” she said, “But maybe I can get it to a less populated area.”

Rory’s eyes widened as the meaning behind her words registered.

“Less populated – Felicity, this isn’t like Havenrock,” he cried.

“It’s exactly like that,” she insisted.

It was her chance at redemption – and if she failed, then at least she would die doing the right thing.

Then, Rory was pushing her out of the way.

“Then let me do it. My rags survived the blast, they can survive this.”

Panic ballooned in Felicity’s chest once more. She couldn’t let this happen.

She started shaking her head rapidly. He didn’t get it – this was the only chance she had. It ate at her for almost a year and she finally had the opportunity to make up for her sins.

“It should be me,” she said, her voice breaking, “It has to be _me._ Not you. Let me do it. Please – _please_.”

“There’s not enough time,” Rory said, all but pushing her towards the exit, “Just go.”

Her legs carried her out of the airplane hangar and she spotted Oliver running towards her.

“What’s happening?” he shouted.

There was no time for rational thought – all she could think of was Rory possibly failing – of dying, of Oliver in front of her and she ran straight into his chest.

His arms closed around her almost instantly and she felt relief surge around her as though she had been thrown into it like cold water. Idly all she could think was that if they were going to die, being close to Oliver again was the best way she could go.

There was a muted explosion and Oliver pulled her in impossibly closer, steering them away from the blast. Felicity’s face pushed deeper into his chest, her glasses pressing against her nose and undoubtably denting.

Then – it was over.

She fought the urge to say something stupid like, _‘we’re not dead, cool,’_ as she pulled away from Oliver and ran with him into the hangar to find Rory.

When she saw that he was okay, and alive, Felicity felt like the iron lock around her chest finally released.

* * *

By the time she returned to Star City, it was the evening.

Adrian agreed to come over, even if it was late.

“How was the trip to our sister city?” he asked, handing her a glass of water once she arrived, “For all this work you do, Oliver really should put you on city payroll by now.”

Felicity gave a weak smile as she remembered the lie they told everyone – it felt even weaker now, she realized, and there was no reason for her to be tagging along to his trip. Maybe Oliver _should_ have considered hiring her – like their cover back in QC days.

“It was okay,” she said. But as soon as she said it – another lie – something in her throat caught. The events outside the warehouse caught up with her.

Almost-dying was, at this point, an occupational hazard of Team Arrow. But in that moment, it felt so real, so final, that her feet carried her to Oliver’s embrace and she hadn’t even once considered anything else – of what was appropriate, of her boyfriend waiting back home. She hadn’t considered that among her last acts would have been blackmailing someone in a dubious display of morality…

The thoughts must have been clear on her face, because Adrian frowned.

“Everything okay?” he asked, “More fighting with Oliver?”

She shook her head.

“Nothing like that,” she said, “But… do you ever wonder if you’re doing the right thing?”

Adrian’s eyebrows furrows.

“What’s this about?”

Felicity made a vague gesture.

“Like, with what you’re doing for the cover up of that ACU detective,” she said, “Is there ever a moment where you wonder if that’s okay?”

“Well, sure,” Adrian said thoughtfully, “But I remember why I’m doing it – to stop panic and ultimately make Star City a better place.”

The ends justifying the means. She used to hate when Oliver used that line of reasoning.

“What brought this on, anyway?” he asked, “Do you not approve of the cover up?”

She shook her head out of it. It was nothing she could explain – though, it was starting to get frustrating, that about six months into dating there was still so much Adrian couldn’t know about her.

“Nothing like that,” she forced a smile, “Long flights make me existential, apparently. Do you think we can still catch our dinner reservation?”

* * *

In the weeks since returning from Russia, the team jumped right into Prometheus mode again. Lieutenant Pike received evidence in the Green Arrow’s involvement in Malone’s death, and ordered a manhunt against him. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Prometheus had clearly leaked this to him in order to continue his crusade to turn the world against Oliver.

Felicity had a location on who they suspected to be his mother, but Oliver going to her house in Opal City turned out to be a dead end.

Still, Felicity had a _lot_ of data to comb through from her electronics, which is why when Thea came into the lair – after ages, it felt like – Felicity was relieved for the chance at a break.

“Do you have a minute?” Thea asked. She looked uneasy, and frankly a little angry, so Felicity wasn’t going to say no.

“For you, I have several,” she replied, “What’s going on?”

“It’s Susan Williams,” Thea replied, her mouth twisting with disgust as she said the name. Felicity silently agreed with the sentiment – silently, because she wasn’t going to look like the jealous ex – “She suspects that Oliver’s the Green Arrow.”

Felicity’s eyes widened.

“How?”

Thea shrugged.

“I don’t know. I mean, he says she confronted him about it and that he put it to bed, but she’s not just going to drop this. I know her.”

“What should we do?” Felicity asked. Her mind spinning with ideas, and she made a mental note to see if there was any information on Susan Williams collected by Helix.

“Hack into her computer and find out what she found, and delete it?” Thea asked hopefully.

“Copy that.” Felicity was already typing.

It took all but a minute, Susan believed in a simple password and clearly labelling the files on her desktop. Felicity clicked on the file aptly titled _Oliver Queen Info_ and Thea pulled up a chair to sit next to her.

“Whoa,” Thea breathed as the file opened.

For all the problems Felicity had with the reporter – and, it was a growing list – she had to hand it to her, her investigations were thorough.

Which was good for Susan, _bad_ for Oliver. And the rest of the team, if these investigations stayed their course.

There were photos, references, contacts…

“We have to delete all of this,” Thea said.

“Even if we do, she got this from an outside source,” Felicity reasoned, “She’s just going to be able to get it again.”

Or, if she had more than five braincells, she backed this up somewhere else.

“So what do we do?” Thea asked.

Felicity brushed the keystrokes without a moment’s hesitation – the files were gone.

“I have an idea,” she said vaguely, “But it’s going to get us in so much trouble. Let me handle it.”

* * *

The thing with losing control sometimes is that you can feel it happening, want to stop, but not be able to.

Planting dirt on Susan’s computer was wrong. Discrediting her was wrong. But this was the mess Felicity had to clean up because Oliver was too busy thinking with Little Oliver to realize how much danger he was in.

Still, when Oliver stormed into the bunker, Felicity knew she was in for a dressing down.

“Hey,” she said casually as he approached her station, “What’s up?"

He looked pissed. Rightfully so. Playing dumb probably wouldn’t help.

“Did you hack Susan William’s computer?” he asked, voice dangerously low as he towered over her.

Okay, that didn’t work when he was the Hood, years ago. And it wouldn’t work now.

She stood up, carefully, because he really was toying with the whole personal space thing.

“Okay, listen,” she said carefully.

“Felicity,” he said, “Answer the question. Did you do it?”

“I did.”

“What the hell were you thinking?” he demanded.

…Was he serious?

“I was thinking you would have been one news story away from being outed as the Green Arrow if I didn’t step in,” Felicity argued.

“You got her fired,” he said, "And discredited. She'll never be able to work as a journalist again."

Having been fired herself, Felicity shed no tears about it.

“If it was a choice between her and you, our entire team, and operation, I really didn’t consider it.”

“I had it handled,” Oliver said.

“It didn’t sound like it from Thea,” Felicity retorted, “And you didn’t see what was on her desktop. It was bad, Oliver. She wasn’t just being a conspiracy theorist. She had a lot of evidence. It was more than just curiosity, she was gearing up to publish it.”

His jaw clenched.

“That doesn’t mean you can get her fired and ruin her life. Her career is effectively over. It was none of your business.”

That set Felicity off. She stepped forward and got just as up in his space as he did hers.

“Actually, it kind of was,” she gestured around the whole bunker, “Team, remember? And saving your ass when it’s lodged with your own head has been in my job description for the past five years.”

“Did you ever stop to consider that maybe I’m okay with her finding out my secret?” Oliver retorted, “I trust her not to blast it to the world.”

Felicity’s eyebrows flew to her hairline. That was just – that was rich.

“So you trust the person who wrote awful stories about not only you, but your Deputy Mayor and _your_ sister,” she said, listing the offenses off with her fingers, “You trust her after dating for, what – like, a minute?”

“Really?” Oliver asked challengingly, “Is that what this is about? That she’s my girlfriend?”

Felicity’s jaw dropped open. Anger clouded her vision and mind, and she had to stop herself from sputtering.

“You – are – unbelievable – Oliver,” she said through gritted teeth, “I’m trying to save you from going to _jail_ , and you’re more worried about why I would do that. How much of an ass do you have to be to think I’m just jealous? In case you haven’t noticed, I’m seeing someone too.”

Oliver rolled his eyes.

“Like you let me forget it,” he said, “He’s all over our business, now.”

Felicity laughed incredulously.

“Yeah, _helping us._ I know it might seem strange when you’re with someone who’s trying to take you down, but Adrian getting on John’s case is a good thing. Adrian working to cover up the detective’s death is a good thing. You should know, since you’re the one who –”

She stopped herself with a sharp gasp. Her anger disappeared as quickly as it came – like she had been dumped in ice water.

Oliver took a step back, as though her words physically hit him.

“I didn’t mean that,” she said quietly, “I’m sorry. But, Oliver, please try and see where I’m coming from here. Susan investigating this was trouble.”

He blinked.

“If it was,” he said, voice returning to its lower octave, “It would have been my mistake to make. You can consider your days of – what? Cleaning up after me, watching my ass, whatever, done.”

“Fine,” she said.

“Fine,” he repeated, “I have to get back to City Hall.”

And she could not be in the bunker for another second.

* * *

She called Adrian when she was already halfway to his office, but luckily, he had time to see her for lunch. She picked up the takeout and he cleared the space in his office.

“Everything okay?” he asked when she stabbed her plastic fork into the Styrofoam container.

“Fine,” she said, “Just fine.”

“That looks like your Oliver frown,” Adrian said with a knowing grin.

Felicity tried to fight the small smile at her predictable identifier, she really did.

“Your boss is being difficult this week,” she said, “I’m sure you’ve gotten a taste of it, what with the cover up being leaked.”

She gestured to the mess around Adrian’s office – it was never really clean around here, but she was hardly one to judge when he saw the state of her shoe collection.

“That I have,” Adrian nodded, “Did you catch the tail end of his bad mood?”

She was probably the cause of it, actually. But she wasn’t going to get into that.

Instead, she raised her fork.

“We fought about Susan Williams,” she admitted.

Adrian raised an eyebrow.

“His girlfriend?” he said in surprise, “What did she do?”

Felicity waved a hand in the air broadly, as if to say, _what didn’t she do_?

“Just… all of it. He’s dating an investigative journalist who covers politics – who covers _his_ work. He’s being blind – what could happen if things go south? What if she decides to air private things about him? She could control how people see him, his approval ratings,” Felicity stopped to catch her breath, “It’s reckless.”

Adrian leaned back in his chair.

“I’m guessing you told him this?”

She nodded.

“He wasn’t happy. He told me to stay out of his business.”

“I didn’t realize they were so serious,” Adrian said thoughtfully.

“Apparently,” Felicity stuffed a forkful of salad into her mouth to stop herself from ranting more.

“It’s like I keep telling you, Felicity,” Adrian said, “Let him make his own mistakes.”

Funny, it was exactly what Oliver said.

“You’re right,” she said, setting her salad down on his desk, “Let’s talk about other things. Are you free tonight?”

She did _not_ want to be in the bunker, and Oliver was supposed to be laying low as the Green Arrow anyway, so there probably wasn’t much she could do.

Adrian winced.

“Sorry, no,” he gestured to the aforementioned mess, “The city needs me.”

Boy how she wished that was the first time a man said that to her.

“I understand,” she said. Bunker it was.

“You are here now, though,” Adrian said slowly, rising from his seat and walking around the desk. When he reached a hand out to help her up, she raised an eyebrow, “And you _never_ come to my office.”

He led her onto the desk, and a stupidly young sounding giggle escaped Felicity as she climbed on. His arms landed on either side of her waist, caging her in.

“Adrian,” she protested lightly as he leaned in and hovered above her lips, “Anyone could walk in.”

“No one will bother us,” he assured her, “Just you and me, Ace.”

He was a lawyer – he made very convincing arguments.

* * *

When she returned to the lair, hours later, feeling lighter without the weight of her fight with Oliver pressing her down, she found herself without company.

Then she received texts from Adrian and Oliver at the same time, telling her to turn on the news.

Bethany Snow’s familiar face looked grim as she spoke.

“Reports have recently surfaced that there has been a major coverup relating to the murder of ACU Detective William Malone,” she said.

Oh, no.

“According to our sources, the mayor’s office ordered the falsification of autopsy reports to protect the identity of Detective Malone’s killer. If any of these allegations prove true, it could trigger impeachment proceedings.”

Oh, no no no.

She really picked a bad day to fight with Oliver.

* * *

City Council decided in favour of impeachment proceedings immediately. Adrian tried to resign as District Attorney – which broke Felicity’s heart, because he loved the job, but he felt responsible for the coverup – but Oliver refused and now Adrian was representing Oliver for the hearings.

And of course, as they watched the televised coverage of his proceedings, John decided it was a perfectly good moment to approach Felicity on this fight. It didn’t go well. Like Oliver, he was not as enthused about Helix giving her the Pandora drive as she was.

“This week it was Oliver’s girlfriend, last month I hear you’re getting into blackmail in _Russia,_ ” he said, “What kind of stuff have you gotten involved in?”

Felicity thought it was probably not a good idea to tell him she was running searches on dirt for City Council members to bribe them into voting against impeachment. She wasn’t even a hundred percent sure she would go through with it, but Thea made the suggestion and she believed in covering all possibilities.

“This _stuff_ helped you get out of prison, helped Oliver avoid being outed as the Green Arrow, and it could help him stay as mayor,” Felicity listed, "I think that makes it okay."

“Ends justifying the means?” John raised his eyebrows. His phrasing reminded her of the conversation she had with Adrian after Russia. “Come on, Felicity, this isn’t you.”

“Maybe it is now,” Felicity said irately. Maybe she had enough of being the one who watched others take risks, tired of being the one who asked others to stop and get ignored, tired of being the one who was expected to stay in her role.

She felt like after being shot at, watching a town get destroyed, losing the love of her life and watching a friend die justified finding different methods.

That’s why when the girl she met weeks before, who gave her the Pandora drive, formally offered her a spot in Helix, Felicity accepted without hesitation.

“I’m in,” she told her, “Full throttle.”

* * *

The first time she visited Helix’s base of operations, Felicity made sure it was when everyone else was busy.

Oliver, by some miracle or part of his never-ending luck, was not impeached. And they finally got a hit on the location of the mysterious woman who apparently trained both him and Prometheus, so he was taking the weekend to find her and put a name to the scary face mask once and for all. 

She half expected Helix to be a basement operation, maybe something in a dorm like her old hacktivist days.

She was _not_ prepared for the huge space, screens going wall to wall and so many people, plugged in.

“Whoa,” was all she could say.

“I know,” Alena – _Kojo Sledgehammer,_ but they were on a IRL name basis now – responded with a smile.

“There’s so many people,” Felicity said, “I kind of thought that a secret hacker organization would be a little more… I don’t know… intimate.”

Alena laughed.

“Helix is a worldwide operation. Like the U.N. but, you know, better.”

Felicity glanced at some of the screens that spanned wall to wall. She recognized camera footage that was definitely _not_ from traffic cams, blueprints, government seals…

“Is that…?”

“A real time feed of every cell phone camera footage in the area?” Alena finished, “Yes. Yes, it is. If you want to get a specific city’s cell footage all you need to do is ask.”

“There is a lot of power here for someone to have who’s not the government,” Felicity said as she continued to stare at the rapidly changing screens, mouth gaping.

“That’s the point, you know?” Alena said, “Power to the people.”

“Power to the people,” Felicity echoed quietly.

Alena looped her arm into hers.

“Welcome to Helix,” she said, leading Felicity to an open computer, “I think we’re going to change the world together.”

* * *

By the time Felicity finally managed to tear herself away from Helix, her phone was littered with missed calls.

A few from Oliver, one from Curtis, one from Diggle and a few from Adrian.

As she climbed into her car, she called Adrian back.

“Hey, sorry I missed your call,” she said.

“Do you remember when I suggested we take a trip together?” he said.

Felicity blinked at the odd greeting.

“I … do,” she said slowly, “Why?”

“I was just thinking about it,” Adrian said simply, “We kind of let that fall to the side. What do you say we try that again?”

Felicity blinked, feeling torn. On one hand, it was the worst possible time to take a vacation, what with Oliver’s very recent near-impeachment, Prometheus, and now her commitment to working with Helix.

But on the other hand, it would be nice to take a break.

“That would be fun,” she admitted.

“Let’s do it,” Adrian said. There was a strange sense of urgency in his voice that confused her, “This week, let’s not even think about it before Oliver gets us busy with city stuff again.”

“Okay,” Felicity fought an ironic laugh – the last time she spontaneously travelled with someone it turned out a certain way, “Okay. We’ll plan it later? I’m pretty tired tonight.”

“Not a problem,” Adrian said, “I’m a little tied up at work anyway. I just wanted to hear your voice.”

Felicity felt her cheeks go red at the unexpectedly sweet sentiment.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“See you then,” Adrian said, “Bye.”

She fought the smile that creeped its way up from her conversation with Adrian and decided to return Oliver’s call next.

“Hey,” she said when he picked up, “Back from your trip already? How did it go?”

“Where are you?” Oliver responded, sounding almost breathless.

Oh good, he was in one of _those_ moods.

“I’m out,” she said vaguely, pulling out of the parking lot near Helix headquarters.

“Are you with Adrian?” he asked, his voice lowering an octave.

“No, Oliver,” she sighed. She wasn’t in the mood for another fight fueled by their new significant others.

“Are you at home?”

“No,” she frowned, “What’s with the interrogation?”

“I need you to come to the bunker. Straight to the bunker. Don’t go home. Just – I need you to come here. It’s urgent.”

She felt bad for being annoyed with him– Oliver sounded genuinely worried about something.

“Okay,” she said, trying to sound reassuring, “I’ll be there in ten. Don’t worry.”

She was there in five.

When she got to the bunker, she was surprised to see that it was empty, save Oliver, who was pacing up and down the platform near her computers. He was still dressed in a heavy winter coat, and she suspected that he came straight from his trip to the bunker.

“Hey,” she called out when the elevator doors opened, and his head snapped up, “What’s going on? Where is everyone?”

Oliver didn’t answer. He pushed off the platform, running across the small distance and only barely pushing away the med table.

Once he reached her, he threw his arms around Felicity’s shoulders. Felicity felt his hot breath sigh in relief against her as he crushed her into his chest.

“Oliver?” Felicity’s fingers curled into his sweater involuntarily, “What is going on? Where is everyone else? Is this about your trip?”

He pulled away from her hesitantly, but his hands stayed on her shoulders.

His eyes betrayed how upset he was.

“I asked everyone to give me the room. They don’t know why, yet,” he said, “Can we – let’s sit. Let’s sit down.”

He grabbed her hand and lead her to one of the couches. When she sat down, he crouched in front of her.

“Oliver,” she said when he didn’t immediately speak, “You’re freaking me out here.”

“I found the woman I said trained us,” he started slowly, “Me and … Prometheus, that is.”

“Okay, did it help?”

“I got Prometheus’ true identity,” he said, but with a grimace.

“That’s awesome,” she said, “You need me to get dirt on him? What’s his name?”

Oliver’s hand tightened in hers. The apology written all over his face before he spoke gave away how much his next words would change everything –

“Felicity,” he said, “It’s Adrian.”

– But nothing could prepare her for that.

“What?” she said. Her head started shaking back and forth involuntarily, “No. That’s crazy. Are you sure there wasn’t a mistake?”

“Felicity,” Oliver said, “I’m so sorry. I wish I was wrong. I wish it wasn’t him.”

Felicity felt like she had vertigo. Not the drug – but the real thing. Her head felt like it was spinning, like at any moment she would fall out of this chair, if Oliver wasn’t gripping her hands so tight.

Oliver continued talking.

“Listen, you’re going to stay here in the bunker tonight,” he said, “Please don’t argue with me, hon. Just until we figure things out. I’ve talked to Diggle, he’s okay with you spending some time at his place, but he doesn’t know why yet. So, it’s your choice, but I honestly would feel comfortable if you stayed here, it’s the safest place in the city. Alright? Felicity?”

Her phone buzzed in her hand. She looked to the caller ID and almost laughed.

Adrian. Again. Had she really just spoken to him fifteen minutes ago? Had she really smiled and laughed and blushed at the conversation? Her stomach lurched at the thought.

“Answer it,” Oliver said quietly, “He doesn’t know what we know. See what he says.”

“Hello?” Felicity said, putting the phone to her ear. Her voice felt hoarse. She didn’t realize her mouth had gone completely dry the moment Oliver told her the truth.

“Hi,” Adrian said easily, “Change of plans. I got out of work early, and since I didn’t see you much this week I figured I could come by and make you a late dinner. How does that sound?”

He wanted to come over. Prometheus wanted to be in her home. Oh, wait, he had access to it for the past six months. Felicity felt like she was going to throw up.

“Sorry,” she answered, though it sounded detached in her own ears. Like the response was automatic, like lying had become such a second nature that she didn’t even need to be fully present to do so, “I’m a little busy tonight helping a friend.”

“Not a problem,” Adrian said easily, “Next time.”

“Sure,” she said hollowly.

The distant part of her that controlled the phone conversation managed to hang up and drop the phone to her side.

Oliver was watching her every move carefully; the worry was deeply set into his forehead.

“Oliver?” she managed to choke out – it sounded pathetic in her own ears, a sad plea for… something, she didn’t know what.

She couldn’t say more. She felt cold. Physically cold. Her free hand curled up into itself as if to try and unfreeze her fingers, and the tremor as she did so did not go unnoticed by Oliver.

“Listen to me, hon,” he said fiercely, “You don’t have anything to worry about. I won’t let him _touch_ you.”

His phone beeped before Felicity could respond with a bitter laugh – he already _did._

Oliver cursed as he read his screen.

“I have to get back to City Hall, I told the rest of the team to meet me there,” he said, visibly annoyed, “Stay here, okay? Please. I promise we’ll figure it out.”

He pushed his knees off the ground and paused in front of her, taking a moment to kiss her forehead and give her a loaded look, hands cradling either side of her face, before running to the elevator.

Felicity stayed on the couch, letting the numbness finally take over as she was left alone in the bunker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> RIP Adrianlicity/Chasing Smoak - I hardly knew ye. 
> 
> Some random notes on specific ep adaptations you might find interesting -  
> • 5x10: Adrian really does represent Diggle and it's probably my favourite Adrian moment to watch. Made him so likeable. If you want to just see Segarra do Segarra things and John punch him in the face I'd recc checking it out.  
> • 5x14: It's really Thea who orchestrates SW's firing and Oliver's fight is with her - he just yells at Felicity for hacking. I changed that to better fit the path of this fic. Sorry Thea.  
> • Oliver finding out about Adrian happens off screen because he learns it from Talia at the start of 5x16. I know some people would have rather Felicity found out herself, but I kept it closer to canon because Oliver breaking the news to her would help, and I wanted to mirror/redeem the dreaded "where's Billy" moment from canon 5x09
> 
> PS: We’re halfway through! Exciting times. We’re getting into a lot of scenes I’ve been eager to adapt.
> 
> Next time: Felicity spirals after learning the truth. Helix is the only thing that makes sense at the moment. The unimaginable happens.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity spirals after learning the truth. Helix is the only thing that makes sense at the moment. The unimaginable happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi All!! I hate to break my own consistent POV, but Oliver joins us here, you'll see why. 
> 
> Some important notes on Felicity's reactions post-reveal: It's a process, one that doesn't /just/ happen in this chapter. Also, Felicity blames herself for a lot right now, but I just wanna make it clear that because it's in /her/ narration doesn't mean /I/ believe it too (I worry if I don't say this someone will assume).
> 
> And finally, some people wondered why Felicity reacted the way she did to Oliver revealing AC - context matters there. He didn't confront her dramatically and yell, demanding to know if she/even knew/ Adrian was Prometheus. Had he done that, maybe their conversation would have gone south. The tone setting paired with the trust I still believe they've cultivated from years (despite the big fight) is why she believed him. IMO. 
> 
> Anyway. Enjoy!

 Felicity sat on the Diggle-Michaels couch, watching as her friend made tea in the kitchen.

She liked it at Diggle’s house. It was warmer than the bunker, where she spent the night, and definitely more comfortable. Here, she didn’t have as many loaded memories attached. Here, she could play with baby Sara – who was quickly growing up before Felicity’s eyes – and pretend her problems didn’t exist.

She hadn’t slept a wink the night before. Oliver pushed her to the cot he usually slept on and went to the other side of the room. He made phone calls in hushed tones for an hour before eventually taking to the garage, where she could here the faint clinking and knew he was working on his bike.

She knew the rest of the team had been briefed on the situation and that they were all asked to take some space from the bunker.

She pretended to sleep, lying down and facing the wall. With half the lights on and the faint sound of his footsteps across the space, she felt slightly comforted to know that he wasn’t getting any sleep either. At around 4 am he stopped, but she knew he didn’t get any rest that night.

Some time after that, Diggle picked her up, armed with a breakfast sandwich and a smile like nothing happened.

Now, Diggle approached her hesitantly, cup handle side out for her.

“Thanks,” she said, taking a sip even though she wasn’t a tea person, and it was honestly a little too hot to drink. It burned the roof of her mouth and she had to press her tongue up against it.

She brushed a hand over Sara’s cheek as the girl played with oversized blocks.

“I haven’t been by enough,” she said thoughtfully, “She’s growing up too fast. Last I saw her in the summer she was still wobbling when she walked.”

Sara, as if on cue, started running on her little feet towards her father, with all the force and determination one would expect from the child of Spartan and the head of ARGUS.

“How are you doing, Felicity?” John asked for the first time since she was dropped to his door.

She shrugged.

“Sara helps. She’s like therapy – baby therapy. But just for me,” she said with a little grin, “I don’t want to share her. Special Aunt Felicity and Sara privileges only.”

“I get that,” John said, “When Oliver broke me out, the only thing that made being a fugitive worth it was seeing her again.”

Felicity smiled, thankful that he ignored her deflection.

“But you’re avoiding the question.”

… And, she spoke too soon.

She picked on a thread coming out of the couch cushion.

“What do you want me to say, John?” she asked, her voice sounded hollow in her own ears, “I let my guard down. I screwed up. I don’t even want to know how many things he did as Prometheus that are my fault.”

“You sound an awful lot like someone else we know,” John said, leaning back in his chair, “You know nobody blames you, right? _He_ doesn’t blame you.”

She didn’t need a cheat sheet to his pronoun game to figure out who John meant.

“ _He_ barely looked me in the eye after he told me the truth,” she said, “And it’s fine, I get it.”

She wasn’t sure how she’d ever look herself in the mirror again.

“Oliver takes time to process things, and sometimes it’s not the best,” John admitted, “But he’s working nonstop to take Chase down. Now it’s not just about the city, it’s for _you_.”

Felicity shrugged.

“I’d believe it if he said more than two words to me,” she said, “If he at least said goodbye when you picked me up.”

“Do you know where he is right now?” John asked.

She shook her head.

“He’s at your apartment changing the locks himself,” he said, “Didn’t trust a locksmith. Didn’t want to waste anymore time.”

“He’s doing that because I was stupid enough to give a supervillain the key to my house,” she retorted.

Diggle’s words brought on unpleasant memories – of how much Adrian invaded in her life, her home, her bedroom, places she worked so hard to feel safe in again after Darhk invaded her home last spring. It made her empty stomach turn over.

“You didn’t know,” Diggle said patiently.

“I should have,” she replied, “You want to know the worst part?”

Diggle said nothing, but raised his eyebrows.

“I wanted it to work so bad, I ignored everything that could have raised red flags,” she continued, “I wanted to be _happy_ with someone again, I never considered how fast it was moving. I never considered that…. God, John, I’d never been to his house before, but he had a key to mine. How did I not realize?”

It was unbelievably stupid and irresponsible of her. Six months of dating and she only realized this now, when it was too late. One conversation early in their relationship where he explained his house was far from the city was the end of it, she never once questioned it.

Stupid and irresponsible.

And she was supposed to be the smart one.

“No one blames you for trying to be happy,” John said, “We’re all concerned for you – how you feel, and your safety.”

Of course, she knew what everyone was thinking. Now that the cat was out of the bag, surely Adrian’s next target would be her. It would make sense. She couldn’t help but think that she’d have it coming.

“Do you think it’ll get easier?” she asked, looking down. Her voice dropped too, mirroring how she felt at the moment. Small. Vulnerable.

“I think it will,” John replied confidently, “Because you’re _you._ You’re strong. And you can decide how to deal with this. And you know what else, Felicity?”

She looked up, surprised to see him smiling.

“I think you’re going to end up being Adrian Chase’s biggest mistake.”

* * *

Oliver was tired, in every sense of the word.

Physically, his limbs felt heavy as he walked. He had a stress headache that formed the minute Talia Al Ghul said Chase’s name on that mountain. His eyes burned from multiple nights without sleep, but every time he closed them, all he could see was Felicity’s devastated expression, her wide eyes looking up at him hopelessly as he told her the truth.

He failed her.

And, coward that he was, he ran from it. He put distance between himself and her in hopes that it would make processing the news easier for her, he called Diggle because he was so much better at these things that Oliver, and tried to ignore the gnawing guilt he felt when Felicity tried to look at him before she left.

Felicity knew Oliver better than anyone – and consequently he knew her better than anyone else, as well. He knew exactly what she was thinking, what it looked like when he shut down on her and pushed her to their friend.

He knew it was the last thing she needed, but it was the only way he knew how to fix things and to keep her safe.

When Talia told him Prometheus’ identity, Felicity was his first thought. He couldn’t get back to Star City fast enough. The dread built up in his chest when he tried to call her, and it went straight to voicemail.

As he waited for her in the bunker, all Oliver could see was Felicity’s smiling expression any time he saw her with Adrian, the upturn in her voice when she shyly opened up about him to Diggle – thinking Oliver wasn’t around – the way she danced with Chase at the holiday party, or left the bunker early for dates with a blush.

For months, she was genuinely happy, not realizing that she was with the man they had been hunting down.

So when he saw her, thankfully unharmed but confused, Oliver couldn’t stop himself from running across the room and hugging her – crossing every invisible line they’d mutually drawn since their break-up, and pulling her tight against his chest, as though the proximity would save her from the truth he was about to drop in her lap.

In those moments he had to do whatever it took to make her believe him, knowing that their last conversation was a fight, that she had no reason to listen to him anymore. He hoped that she would see the sincerity in his eyes and trust that he was telling truth.

Maybe he’d lost the right to hold her the way he had, to kiss her forehead and use their old terms of endearment to soothe her as he spoke, but in those moments, all of it flew out the window

Sense returned to him later, when he encouraged her to sleep and ran to the other side of the bunker – again, cowardly – he could hear her sniffs and see the way she shivered under her blanket, or the dry heaving when she ran to the bathroom at one point.

And he did nothing. A water bottle on the bed, an extra blanket, they were empty gestures to make up for how he was pulling away otherwise.

It played in his mind over and over again.

His day started early, waiting by a home improvement store until it opened and picking up any necessary supplies to change the locks on Felicity’s apartment. He made two sets of keys, one for her and an extra that he hoped she would just give back to him – for emergencies, of course. He did a sweep of the rooms, relieved to see that Chase wasn’t lingering around.

His belongings were, though.

Little things gave away his presence throughout Felicity’s home. The aftershave on the bathroom counter next to her glasses, the pair of sweatpants that hung off the door’s hook, the socks in her bedroom. Oliver swept it all into the trash, so that when she did come home, Felicity wouldn’t have to look at any of those things.

His phone buzzed in his pocket once he reached the front door again. One look at Susan’s caller ID prompted Oliver to hit the decline button instantly.

Of the many, many regrets that Oliver was starting to accumulate from the year, _that_ was one of them.

Ever since his explosive fight with Felicity in the bunker, Oliver was starting to realize what a mistake it was being with Susan. He’d tried to put some distance between them since then, using the impeachment as his excuse. He learned to ignore the way she looked pointedly at him and made strong hints that their relationship hadn’t moved forward past a few dates here and there over the past few months.

The day she outright said Oliver Queen was never known for _avoiding_ the sack was when he decided he would end things for good – he wasn’t that person anymore, and if that was all she wanted, she could seek it elsewhere.

He would break it off… eventually.

Right now, there were more important things to focus on.

Satisfied with the work he put into Felicity’s apartment, he headed for City Hall.

He found Adrian heading up a meeting with some councilmen. When Chase saw the look on Oliver’s face, it was evident that he caught on to the truth.

Oliver waited the meeting out until everyone else had left, and Chase turned to him with a sardonic grin.

“Caught on, did you?” he asked, shuffling some of his notes back into a file, “I’m surprised you didn’t come storming in with the mask and the hood. Although, it wouldn’t do you any good, the city’s not so fond of the Green Arrow right now, are they?”

“I’ll give them the Throwing Star Killer,” Oliver said tightly, “We’ll see how they feel.”

Chase gave a mocking gasp.

“Is that the big plan?” he asked, “Arresting me? That’s a little anticlimactic, even for you. Especially since you don’t have any evidence.”

“I’m not going to kill you,” Oliver replied, “I know that’s what you want me to do.”

“You’ve only done everything I’ve wanted you to do so far,” Chase said lazily, flicking a piece of lint off his suit jacket, “You didn’t honestly think I’d let this end at City Hall, just because you know who I am, did you?”

His smirk was too wide, his expression too giddy, Oliver knew that he was right. There was more up his sleeve, he just had to figure out what it was.

“What did you do?”

“Have you heard from your girlfriend lately?” Chase asked, “Or, is she still your girlfriend? The gossip around town says maybe not, but from Felicity it sounded pretty serious.”

His grin widened and he took a step closer. Oliver’s jaw clenched when he took Felicity’s name.

“Speaking of – Felicity hasn’t been answering my calls lately,” he drawled, “You wouldn’t have anything to do with that, would you? Not cool, _Ollie_.”

Oliver felt his nostril flare as his temper increased.

“What did you do?” he asked again, slower this time as he said it through gritted teeth.

“Susan’s fine,” Chase said reassuringly, “Or she will be, as long as I’m around to make sure she gets food and water.”

Oliver did his best to keep his expression levelled as he processed the information. Susan had been taken, and Chase clearly wanted to keep her alive for one of his sick games.

“You have a few options here, Oliver,” Chase continued, “You can get your bow and arrow and torture me for her location – we both know you have a penchant for it – or you can look for her yourself. You better hope she can last long enough for you to decide.”

Chase gradually stepped closer to Oliver as he spoke, close enough that it would be so easy to reach out and hurt him any way Oliver wanted – his neck, his face, his eyes – but that was exactly what Chase wanted.

“I’ll leave you to it,” Chase said, “I suspect you have a lot of catching up to do, since you just joined the game.”

He walked out the conference room, the tap in his footstep an upbeat rhythm that echoed down the hall.

* * *

It was a long day at John’s house.

Felicity didn’t have much to do. She brought her tablet with her, but she didn’t feel like using it. She played with Sara until it was time for the young girl’s nap, so she took to watching her from the lounge chair.

Felicity was well aware of John’s eyes on her as she meaninglessly trailed around his house – channel surfing on the TV before it landed on the news and promptly shutting it off, making herself coffee but never actually drinking it, cleaning up the cluttered newspapers that took up his dining table. He didn’t say anything until she flopped down on the couch again.

“Bored?” he asked with a hint of a smile.

She looked up sheepishly, pushing her glasses back. Since she had been staying here, she had her spare glasses. They were looser than her everyday pair and she hated using them unless absolutely necessary, but she wasn’t allowed back in her apartment just yet to retrieve them.

“Is it obvious?”

“I know that it’s hard to be stuck in here,” Diggle said, joining her on the couch, “But Oliver was clear that he wants you safe until they figure out Chase’s next move.”

“Right,” Felicity sighed, “I get that, but come on –”

She stopped at the sound of Diggle’s phone buzzing.

“Hold that thought,” he said absently, “It’s Oliver.”

He put the phone to his ear and, whatever Oliver said, his eyes widened.

“I’ll be right there,” he said.

“What’s wrong?” Felicity asked.

John’s jaw clenched.

“It’s Susan,” he said, “Oliver… confronted Chase at City Hall. He said he’s taken Susan and has her somewhere. I need to get to the bunker.”

Felicity jumped up, straightening her ponytail and pulling the ends of her zip up hoodie.

This was her chance – it was something to do.

“Felicity, I don’t think Oliver expects you to be on this one tonight,” John said delicately, “Stay home.”

“I’m not going to the bunker,” she said determinately, “I have… a contact. I’m going to see if they can get me a lead.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea –”

“Actually, I think it’s the perfect idea,” Felicity retorted, spinning around to look at John, “Adrian has Susan now, I’d imagine his hands are a little full. I’m not his target. Or, not yet. Either way, I can finally help here. I’ll get her location for Oliver.”

Before Diggle could respond, she was already pulling the door open and walking out.

Helix would give her the answers she needed.

* * *

Alena didn’t ask any questions at Felicity’s harried appearance, or frantic need for a keyboard. She led her to a station and left her mostly alone.

It had only been two days since she was last here, but it felt like years since Felicity moved in the familiar patterns of hacking.

She dove deep.

She started with Adrian’s movements from the past few days, trying to pinpoint the moment he would have taken Susan and where he would have gone. She moved backwards from that, her stomach churning at how often his facial recognition picked up outside her house.

She felt especially responsible for Susan’s outcome. Not that she ever liked the woman, but the fact remained that she was innocent, and didn’t need to get roped up into Prometheus’ games like this.

And it was impossible to forget that day she fought with Oliver about the journalist – and her conversation with Adrian after.

_“He’s dating an investigative journalist who covers politics – who covers his work. He’s being blind – what could happen if things go south? What if she decides to air private things about him? She could control how people see him, his approval ratings,” Felicity stopped to catch her breath, “It’s reckless.”_

_Adrian leaned back in his chair._

_“I’m guessing you told him this?”_

_She nodded._

_“He wasn’t happy. He told me to stay out of his business.”_

_“I didn’t realize they were so serious,” Adrian said thoughtfully._

_“Apparently.”_

The only reason Adrian even knew to target Susan was because of how carelessly Felicity spoke with him, when she revealed her fight and made it clear that Susan was someone who mattered in Oliver’s orbit.

If something happened to Susan Williams, it would be on Felicity.

The thought made her type faster.

She went through some information still left untouched from what she pulled off his mother’s computer.

Finding out Adrian’s real name was actually Simon Morrison felt like the final knife twist in her gut – the final piece of evidence that she really, _really_ did not know the person she had been with for months.

About an hour into her hacking, her phone started to buzz on the table, and she knew that by now Diggle had told Oliver that she’d ran off.

It was irresponsible to ignore the calls when everyone was undoubtably worried about her, she knew that. But she wasn’t ready to face everyone just yet – if she was going back to the bunker, it was with solid evidence, something to take away from any looks of pity she’d be getting, or any comforting words that would just make her feel like even more of a naïve idiot than she already did.

So she hacked. She hacked because it was the only thing that made sense to her, pausing only to take sips of the coffee Alena silently set down on her table.

She typed until her fingers and wrists ached, until she was satisfied that she collected enough about Chase’s background to use as evidence to present to the ACU.

Enough evidence that she could look Oliver in the eye, maybe try and gain his trust back.

She took a moment to pause and check her phone. Swiping aside the half dozen “Where are you???” texts from John, she found one with Curtis sending a link to a video he retrieved, where Prometheus – Adrian – was holding Susan with a knife to the neck.

She showed the video to Alena.

“Oh my god,” Alena said, hand to her own neck, “And that’s –?”

“Prometheus, Throwing Star Killer, the DA, Simon Morrison, take your pick,” Felicity said with an edge to her voice, “I’ve been trying to get a location using this video but no dice, yet. I figured at one point a cell phone would have entered the room, and maybe I could pull something off Helix’s database.”

She gestured to the set up of wall to wall monitors.

“Right,” Alena said, pursing her lips thin.

Felicity’s fingers tightened around her phone as she registered the change in the other girl’s tone.

“What is it?” she asked.

“It’s… really good that you’re trying to help find this woman,” Alena started diplomatically, “And obviously she needs your help but…”

She looked around before pulling Felicity in closer.

“Look, we gave you the Pandora drive. We helped you sort through the data on Adrian Chase and… now people are starting to wonder what exactly you’re doing for us. We didn’t invite you here to be your library, you know?”

It was the first time Alena used anything less than a friendly tone with Felicity, and it made her pause.

“Oh.”

“I’m sorry,” Alena winced.

“No, no, you’re right,” Felicity said, pocketing her phone, “I help you, you help me. What would you like me to do?”

Alena grinned a little and led her attention back to their computer screens.

“We’ve been trying to break the encryption of this Homeland Security drone. It’s proving a little difficult for some of our people here. But we all know you’re one of the best, so…”

Felicity’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Why do you need access to a DHS drone?”

Alena tilted her head to the side.

“Right,” Felicity sighed, “You can’t tell me.”

“Glad you understand,” Alena said, “Are you on board?”

Oliver would be furious if he knew what kind of liability she was signing up for here.

Then again, he was probably already there.

At least this way she could come back with some answers for him.

“I’m on it,” she said.

* * *

It took an extra hour than she anticipated, but in the end, it was worth it. Alena helped her secure a potential location for Susan, nothing entirely certain but with enough evidence of Adrian’s movements there for it to be a viable option.

Still, Felicity finally felt confident enough to return to the bunker, when she knew the team had been running an op outside Adrian’s house.

She had hoped it would be empty when she got there, but her timing was never that lucky.

Oliver was still dressed in his Green Arrow suit, mask removed, forehead damp in the way that always told her they had just finished up a night in the field.

Diggle, Curtis and Dinah were standing in a line not too far from him. Everyone wore matching frowns. The video of Susan that Curtis sent earlier was playing on one of the monitors, muted so that they could just see her mouth forming the screams.

Whatever conversation was going on clearly stopped the moment the elevator doors opened and Felicity stepped out. Four pairs of eyes met her with the exact look she had hoped to avoid.

Except Diggle. Diggle did not give her the sympathetic stare. Diggle still looked angry at her for running out.

She would deal with that later – a list that was growing far too long for her liking at the moment.

“Hi,” she said sheepishly, twisting her ankle uncomfortably under all the attention, “I meant to come by sooner, I’m sorry.”

No one said anything. She wondered if this was how it was going to be from now on.

Finally, Oliver stepped forward.

“Can you give us the room, please?” he asked the others quietly.

The rest of the team exited without a word, and Oliver walked closer to her.

The tension that set in his shoulders was evident, as his hands were clasped behind his back. He looked tired, _so tired_.

“Right,” Felicity clapped her hands together, “I was working on two things, finding a location on Susan and getting you some evidence to formally turn in Chase to Lieutenant Pike –”

“Felicity –”

“– I got both, which is why it took me so long to get here –”

“Felicity –”

“ – Maybe we should sit for this? There’s a lot of info I need to brief you on –”

“Felicity,” the third time, Oliver said it more firmly. One of his hands landed on her arm and it made her pause.

“Yes?” she asked. Her voice felt smaller. She knew this was probably the dressing down she had been in for since the moment Oliver learned about Adrian.

“I’m worried,” he said.

Felicity nodded quickly.

“Of course,” she pushed her loose glasses back, “I can’t imagine how it feels, but we’ll find Susan, I promise.”

Oliver closed his eyes and shook his head.

“Not –” he paused, “Not that. It’s you.”

Felicity fought the lump in her throat.

“Right,” she clasped her hands together, “Because – everything. I get it.”

She paced around her platform, glancing at her computers.

“I just – If there’s something you’re not telling me,” Oliver said behind her, and the careful hesitation in his tone made her stomach drop.

 She twisted around and stopped him.

“Oliver,” she said, her voice catching, “I would never – I didn’t – I know I didn’t _like_ Susan that much, but – you have to know I wouldn’t – I promise I wasn’t involved in this.”

The words tumbled out of her mouth, and for the first time, her biggest fear in all of this was voiced. That Oliver would never trust her again, that he would consider her a liability after her relationship with Adrian, that he probably thought she was giving Adrian intel…

Oliver looked at her with furrowed eyebrows.

“Felicity, hey,” he stepped forward again, but her own foot took a step back in response. He tried to mask the look of hurt that crossed his face at the action, “I didn’t think you had anything to do with this.”

Felicity crossed her arms tight around her middle. She wanted to respond with… something, anything, but the lump in her throat that formed made it a little hard to do that.

“No one here thinks you do,” Oliver said carefully, “You know that, right? When I said I was worried…”

He trailed off shaking his head.

“I’m worried about you.”

She found the courage to look up at him again, his figure slightly blurred at the tears that swam in her eyes. Whatever she had been expecting, it wasn’t that.

“I… dropped this huge news on you, and then I left, because I didn’t know how to help you. And I sent you to Diggle. That was wrong. And I’m seeing now that I made you think I don’t trust you anymore. Felicity, I will _always_ trust you. But right now…”

He paused to sigh.

“Since Russia, you’ve been involved in… something. Something that’s apart from all this, apart from Chase, Diggle called it a ‘contact’… and you don’t want to tell anyone about it. Or, you just didn’t want to tell me, and that’s fine,” he paused, “But we both know secrets haven’t ended well between us. If there’s something going on…”

Felicity sighed. Helix was… A whole other thing, but one that would need time, because it would inevitably lead to an argument, and they couldn’t afford to do that while an innocent woman was kidnapped.

“You’re right,” she admitted, “And I do want to tell you, but right now isn’t a good time, with everything going on. Later, I promise.”

Oliver nodded.

“One last thing –” he said, “I hope you don’t think – that fight we had the other week, we left a lot in the air –”

“Oliver,” Felicity forced the tiniest smile, “It can wait too. Really.”

He sighed.

“You said you had something to show me?” he pointed to her monitors with his chin.

Felicity sat in her chair and twisted it to the keyboard.

“I have _a lot_ of somethings to show you,” she said, “Let’s start with Simon Morrison. Or, Adrian’s birth name.”

* * *

Oliver and the team geared up to find Susan in one of the locations Felicity provided.

But Oliver didn’t want to go without some leverage of his own, just in case.

So Felicity had to track down his mother – who was no longer in Opal City, but far closer to Star City than she should have been. Felicity enlisted Helix’s help over the phone – promising Alena another favour – and gave the location to Diggle.

She could tell that neither Oliver or Diggle were proud of the decision to bring Adrian’s mother to the fold, but they were right in recognizing it as a necessary evil. If they wanted to beat Adrian at his own game, then they needed to start playing it, too.

Felicity listened on the comms during the mission. Oliver found Susan and let her out pretty easily, which told Felicity she was never the real target after all.

But then, it was a lot of scuffling and muffled speaking between Adrian and Oliver, that ended soon before the fighting picked up again.

“Felicity,” Diggle huffed into his comm, “We need an ambulance for Adrian’s mother.”

“On it,” she said, idly wondering if Oliver ended up hurting the woman after all.

But after that, lines went dead.

She tried not to let it bother her. She tracked Susan to the SCPD, where she knew Lance was sitting with her and taking her statement. She tracked the ambulance the moment it dispatched, her jaw clenching when she heard that Adrian’s mother succumbed to her stab wound injuries while on the way to Starling General.

But the worry finally came to surface when the team returned without Oliver, Diggle holding his bow tight in his right hand.

“What happened?” she demanded, “I lost all connection by the end there.”

“Chase stabbed his mother. I had to get her out of there, and when I came back… Chase was gone,” Diggle said grimly, “And it looks like he took Oliver with him.”

The words sent dread down Felicity’s back, like cement.

“What do you mean?” she demanded, “Oliver can’t just be _taken_. That doesn’t make any sense.”

Diggle shrugged tiredly.

“I don’t know,” the regret in his tone told Felicity he felt personally responsible for this, “I left for a second and… I don’t know.”

“Okay,” she said, grabbing her coat, “We need to find him.”

Diggle grabbed her arm before she reached the elevators.

“Running off to your contact again?” he asked, “Are you sure that’s such a good idea?”

Felicity stared up at him, eyes stinging.

“I have to find him, John,” she whispered, “If Adrian… I have to find him.”

She didn’t let him get a word in response, shaking her arm free and running for the elevator.

* * *

The first order of business was pinging Oliver’s cell phone, which had been at City Hall since the morning. That told Felicity that he had yet to break his terrible and frustrating habit of leaving the thing everywhere.

Still, she didn’t want to leave it there, so she headed to City Hall to retrieve it, Quentin and Rene giving her the clearance with their positions in the office and flanking her sides.

The last thing she was expecting was to see Adrian in the Mayor’s office already, looking out the window with his hands tucked into his pockets.

He turned when the door opened, grinning widely.

Quentin and Rene immediately moved from Felicity’s sides to in front of her.

“Hey, Felicity,” Adrian said lightly, “Long time no see.”

Felicity touched a hand to Rene’s shoulder, signaling that they should let her face him.

“You better back the hell off,” Rene started, “Or else…”

“Don’t be like that,” Adrian said with a frown, “I’m in mourning. Haven’t you heard? The Green Arrow killed my mother last night. Now, I come to work, and our Mayor is missing. Not a good look at all. People are going to start talking soon.”

He shook his head, tsking.

“And to top it all off,” he retuned his gaze to Felicity. The warmth she knew from the past few months was gone, instead a chilling stare that made her feel like he could see all of her fear, “My girlfriend’s avoiding me. Right when I need her the most.”

The way Adrian spoke, slow and calm, made Felicity’s skin crawl. She had grown used to the soothing tone of his voice at the end of long days, but now she just felt sick.

“Give me one good reason not to arrest your ass right now,” Quentin said angrily.

“I’m the one who knows where Oliver is,” Adrian shrugged, “You don’t want your friend to come back in pieces, do you?”

Felicity found her voice.

“Adrian…” she said. Her throat caught and she internally cursed, she would have liked to feel stronger. “We’re going to find him. And then we’re going to take you down. You’re going to _wish_ we arrested you now.”

Adrian didn’t look fazed.

“If you say so, Ace.”

He took a step closer to her, and the two men moved in front of her again.

Adrian laughed, eyes crinkling in the corners as he looked around.

“So I’m guessing that’s a no on our next date?” he asked, “Bummer. In a way, I’m glad all the cards are on the table now, but I’m really going to miss you, Felicity.”

Felicity felt bile rise in her throat. She didn’t say anything, choosing instead to level him with another hard glare.

“ _Brr_.” Adrian pretended to shiver, “You’d think we didn’t have six months together. They meant something to me, you know. I’m sure they did for you, too.”

“Alright,” Quentin said, “That’s enough.”

“You’re right,” Adrian shrugged, “We all have jobs to do, don’t we? Mr. Ramirez, my office requested your verifications for the latest CompStat reports from the SCPD. I don’t want to ask again.”

“We’re getting out of here,” Rene replied, “Before I really kill you.”

“Threatening a city official’s hardly a good look,” Adrian said easily, “But run along. You’ll just be wasting your time.”

Felicity heard enough. They already wasted enough time talking in circles with Adrian, and Oliver was still out there.

“Let’s just go,” she said.

* * *

At Helix, when she told Alena that another friend was missing, that she needed their resources to find him, and that she would do _whatever_ it was they needed from her, Felicity couldn’t help but feel like she was signing a part of her life away.

But for Oliver, she would do it ten times over.

* * *

When Oliver woke up, he was in an empty prison cell. The last thing he remembered was fighting Chase in the warehouse. He had been holding his own until Talia showed up, and his surprise made his guard lower – before everything went black.

Now, his suit was still on, but his mask had been removed and his hood was against his back. His quiver was missing. Worst of all, his hands were cuffed, thick bands tight around his wrist connected to heavy chains that were attached to the floor.

But that was fine. He had been through worse before. Far worse.

The problem was he had no idea what Chase’s game was here.

He didn’t want to kill Oliver, that was clear pretty early on. He wanted to make Oliver pay for what he had done to his father, but that was all Oliver knew for sure.

Oliver was no stranger to torture.

He felt he could wait this one out until the team, until Felicity, found him.

But then the waterboarding started.

By the time Oliver was finally lifted from the water, his lungs burned. His chest ached, and his vision was spotty.

“That was 145 seconds,” Adrian declared, almost proudly, as though he was impressed by Oliver’s ability to keep that long, “That’s how long my father struggled underwater before he died. According to the autopsy, _your_ arrow pierced his aortic arch, but didn’t kill him. He was alive until his lungs filled with water.”

Oliver didn’t have a response for that. He had long since come to terms with killing Justin Claybourne, and the details around it that Adrian had worked so hard to recreate last Christmas.

“Is that all you’ve got?” Oliver said, doing his best to sound unbothered.

Adrian ignored his question.

“Do you want to know why I go by Prometheus?” he asked, “He challenged the gods, how they played judge, jury and executioner – sound familiar? – and he took away their power. It’s what I’m going to do to you.”

Oliver shrugged carelessly.

“I can stop,” Adrian said, “If you just confess.”

“What, that I killed your father?”

“Oh, no,” Adrian shook his head, “We’re well past that. I want something a little better. Something you’ve been afraid to admit to yourself all this time.”

Oliver bit at his lip to stop himself from losing control. It was not the first time Chase brought up this mysterious confession.

“How many times am I gonna tell you that I don’t know what the _fuck_ you’re talking about?” he retorted, his voice rising in frustration.

Chase smiled like he had been expecting that reaction.

“We’ll get there,” he said simply, “Let’s try this again.”

He grabbed Oliver’s neck and plunged him in the water once more, the muffled sound of him counting down from one hundred and forty-five echoed in Oliver’s ears.

After that point, Oliver’s game was waiting Chase out, keeping quiet as he taunted him or repeated the circumstances around his father’s death. His suit jacket was removed, the cold air of the prison cell made his damp skin raise and he tried not to shudder.

Chase brought a pile of photos into the room, sticking them up on the walls meticulously. Oliver recognized the faces right away. They were the people Oliver had taken care of in his first year after the island.

He had an idea of what game Chase would play next. It didn’t bother him.

“Any of these look familiar to you?” Adrian asked, faking a brightness as he stuck up the last of the photos, “These are your other victims.”

“They were people who did horrible things,” Oliver replied, his voice hoarse, “They _had_ victims.”

“They _also_ had families. Wives, husbands, daughters and sons,” with the last word, Adrian levelled Oliver with a pointed look that made him feel, for the first time, uneasy.

Adrian sensed it, and smiled.

“If this is making you uncomfortable, Oliver,” he said, “You just need to confess your secret. Confess, and I’ll let you go home. It’s that simple.”

Oliver ignored him.

“Adrian,” he said calmly, “There’s nothing I’ve done that compares to you. You… you killed your own _mother_.”

Chase shrugged and held up a picture in his hand.

“This is Cecil Adams,” he said, “You know him better as the Count. Put three arrows in him.”

Chase sighed, shaking his head.

 “Now, confess or I’ll give you the same three arrows.”

“Go to hell,” Oliver bit out.

“Been there,” Chase answered easily.

He reached up to pull Oliver’s quiver over his shoulder, and quickly released three arrows to land in Oliver’s shoulder.

Oliver couldn’t help it – the force made him scream. His mouth filled with blood from where he bit his tongue to try and prevent the sound.

Chase leaned down and pulled the arrows out and Oliver screamed again. His entire shoulder felt like it was on fire, and wet as the blood crept down his arm and onto his shackles.

“Hurts, doesn’t it?” Chase asked, “Three arrows. At least the Count had the luxury of dying after that pain. You won’t be getting that today. All because you had to kill him.”

“He was going to kill my friend,” Oliver retorted once his head felt more level.

By the way Chase grinned, he knew saying that was a mistake.

“Right, right,” Adrian said, “Felicity was there. How could I forget?”

The way Chase said her name always made Oliver’s anger rise. Slowly, with a smile like the cat who ate the canary.

“Let’s talk about her, while we’re here. Felicity. The ace up my sleeve,” he sat on the floor next to Oliver. “She’s a sweet girl, you know, really brilliant. Her only fault is that she was stupid enough to fall in love with _you_.”

Oliver did his best to ignore him, but the blood loss made his head dizzy and Chase’s words got under his skin.

“At first, I didn’t know if she knew who you _really_ were, it wouldn’t surprise me,” Adrian continued, “But then I saw it, in all her late nights and sneaky conversations with you – you two really need to work on your subtlety – she genuinely loves you as the Green Arrow, too. It makes me sick.”

Chase shook his head.

“A girl like that deserves so much better.”

Oliver had enough.

“I swear to god, Adrian,” he bit out, “If you hurt her…”

“You’ll do what, exactly?” Chase asked, titling his head to the side, “Nothing. Because you’re here. And I’ve been…”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of familiar brown glasses. The sight made Oliver’s head spin with anger, because he saw those glasses earlier, next to the men’s aftershave in her bathroom after he had finished changing the locks on Felicity’s apartment.

It meant Adrian had still gotten in despite all his safety measures. And if Felicity hadn’t been at Diggle’s…

Bile started to rise in Oliver’s throat.

“Well, I’ve been closest to her, for months. I’ve been in her home, sleeping next to her, learning everything about her. I know her insecurities, I know her hopes, I know what gives her nightmares and what she’ll do for you.”

“Enough,” Oliver said.

“ _Confess,_ Oliver,” Adrian insisted, “Until you do that, everyone you love is at play. Felicity… Or your son.”

He reached into the pocket that held Felicity’s glasses and pulled out a photograph.

A young, smiling boy with brown hair.

_William_.

Oliver felt his veins go cold.

“You’re bluffing,” he stuttered out, “Even I don’t know where he is. You couldn’t –”

Oliver cursed internally, his control was quickly fading. Chase was hitting all of his buttons, Felicity and his child, and he knew it.

“We both know if I looked, it would be just a matter of time until I found him,” Chase said simply, “So just confess.”

Oliver blinked at the tears that formed somewhere between Adrian talking about Felicity and seeing a photo of his son for the first time in almost a year.

“I don’t – I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“Fine,” Adrian stood up, brushing the dust off his pants, “I’ll leave you here to think about it. Better hope I don’t kill anyone else while you’re gone. Say – who would hold up longer? Felicity or your son?”

As he walked towards the exit, Oliver felt the panic swell in his chest.

“Adrian! Adrian, please,” his tongue felt dry as he begged, self control thrown out the window.

“Are you ready to confess?” Adrian turned around and paused by the exit. When Oliver said nothing, he chuckled, “That’s what I thought. See you soon.”

Dread filled Oliver as he watched Chase disappear. He didn’t know where he could go – Felicity was with Diggle, but if he knew about William, Chase would be able to get to them easily. That Oliver was shackled to the floor was a testament to how far Adrian’s ability reached.

The realization made panic swell in Oliver’s chest.

He called out Adrian’s name, but when the sounds echoed off the walls and he realized he was alone, Oliver leaned against his chains.

He hunched over on his spot against the floor. His breathing became laboured, an already difficult task because of the gaping wound from the three arrows.

The fear of what could happen now that Chase had left him alone clouded Oliver’s mind. Images flashed – Diggle when he had been drugged, pulling Felicity’s limp body out of the limo last year, Darhk kidnapping William… He wouldn’t be able to handle any of that again.

The panic consumed him.

By the time Chase came back, Oliver’s cheeks were wet, his throat was raw, and he had pressed his cheek against the cold floor to try and find some relief from the sweat accumulating on his forehead.

Chase wasn’t alone when he retuned – with him was Evelyn.

The last time Oliver saw Evelyn, she was angry with him. Today, she looked … broken. Both of her eyes had deep purple bruises, her clothes hung off her body, dirt was smeared against her neck. She looked at Oliver with eyes filled with tears, the regret written all over the face.

Adrian threw her into the cell, and she landed on her knees with a gasp. He threw a pocket knife in between them and told Oliver to kill her. When he refused to, Chase shrugged and grabbed her neck.

Tears flowed down Evelyn’s cheeks freely as Chase violently grabbed her hair.

“Evelyn, look at me,” Oliver tried to say steadily, “It’s going to be okay – Just – just –”

“I didn’t know,” she cried, “What I was signing up for when I sided with him. I was so angry – so angry at you, and the world –”

“It’s okay,” Oliver forced a smile, “It’s okay. I forgive you.”

“Come _on,_ Oliver,” Adrian said, his voice rising as his frustration built, “Are we serious? Evelyn betrayed you. You’ve killed people for less.”

“I’m not going to kill her,” Oliver said, “I won’t, alright? You made your point. But I wont do it.”

“I don’t think I have,” Adrian said, “You still won’t just confess.”

His grip tightened around Evelyn’s neck, and she screwed her eyes shut and whimpered.

“Hey,” Oliver said to Evelyn, trying his best to sound reassuring, “It’s going to be okay.”

Adrian tsked.

“Another lie?” he said, “It comes so easy to you, doesn’t it? Confess or she dies.”

Oliver gritted his teeth together so tight it made his jaw ache.

“I don’t know what you _fucking_ want from me,” he finally shouted.

“I want you to tell me what you’ve been too afraid to tell everyone – Felicity, _Diggle_. Tell me!”

Adrian’s shouting and Evelyn’s sobbing swirled in Oliver’s ears, it brought the tears back to Oliver’s eyes.

“I don’t know!” Oliver yelled, “I don’t know! Is that what you want?!”

Adrian shook his head.

“Wrong answer.”

The sickening sound of a neck snapping, and the sight of Evelyn collapsing on the floor is what made Oliver finally throw up. His throat burned with the acidy taste – his stomach had been empty for days now.

He wiped at his mouth with his good shoulder, shackles rattling. He tried hard not to look at Evelyn’s body.

The girl who betrayed him. Too young, too angry, too lost without any real family. She didn’t deserve that end.

But she got it, because of Oliver.

When he looked up again, Adrian was looking at him like nothing had happened.

“Confess,” he repeated, “Come on. You killed my father because he was a name on the list, but that’s not really true, is it? The list was an excuse.”

He stepped closer. Oliver tugged at his shackles angrily, itching to destroy him now.

“The hood, the disguise, this idea that you’re on some… heroic crusade is just an excuse,” Chase continued.

His words found their way under Oliver’s skin. Any handle he had on controlling his emotions was gone the second he watched Evelyn die for him.

“Excuse for what?!” Oliver shouted.

“You tell me, Oliver,” Adrian’s calm voice only infuriated Oliver more.

He started tugging against his chains again, pulling them until his skin bled in hopes that he could just get himself free with pure force. It made Adrian laugh.

“I know what you’re thinking. You think you can just get free and what – snap my neck? Just like I did to Evelyn?”

The name made Oliver’s nostrils flare. He pushed himself against the chains again, all the way until he stopped just an inch away from Chase’s shoe.

“There it is,” Adrian nodded with a smirk, ‘There’s the look I’ve been waiting to see. You don’t just want to get back at me, do you? There’s something else there. Confess.”

Oliver stopped pushing against his chains and caught his breath, looking down at his feet.

“You think you don’t kill because you have to. But we know that’s not true. That’s not why you do it. So why? Why _do_ you do it?”

Oliver said nothing, so Adrian retrieved the pocket knife he threw on the ground earlier and dragged it across one of Oliver’s old scars from his first year on the island.

“Confess, Oliver,” Adrian said over the sound of Oliver’s scream. He threw the bloodied knife back on the floor, “Why do you do it?”

“Because I want to,” Oliver blurted, quietly, eyes downcast.

Adrian froze.

“What?” he asked quietly, as though he was surprised by the admission.

Once it was out, there was no way to bring it back in.

Everything from the days he spent in the prison finally surfaced.

“I want to!” he screamed, his throat raw, his neck straining as he said it in Adrian’s smug face, “And I like it. Is that what you wanted to hear? Is it?!”

Adrian’s smile was downright _proud._

When Evelyn stood up, unharmed and very much so alive, Oliver finally reached his limit and allowed the world to go black around him.

* * *

When he woke up, Adrian was seated against the wall.

“I told you, Oliver. You infect everyone you bring into your life. Do you get why now? Because the crusade was based on a lie. You used the memory of your father to justify killing anyone you wanted.”

Oliver’s eyes slid shut. They were dry this time, like he had no more tears left to cry. He didn’t feel the sadness, the anger, the fear, the panic, any of it. He felt… nothing.

“There’s a price to be paid for that kind of thing. You made your mother pay for it, Tommy, Laurel… Wonder who will be next. Do you really want to tell me that Felicity and Diggle’s lives are better having known you?”

Oliver sighed.

“You know, Felicity never really got into why the two of you broke it off,” Adrian said conversationally, “But once I started looking into your son, what happened last year, I put the pieces together. You lied to her about him, didn’t you?”

He laughed.

“A lie drove the woman you love away,” he continued, “How do you think she’ll feel? Knowing that the _superhero_ life you seduced her with was all based on a lie? Based on your _need_ to kill?”

He shook his head.

“If you hadn’t lost her already…”

Oliver ignored him.

“You told me you’d let me go,” he rasped out.

“I’m a man of my word,” Adrian assured, getting up, “But first I have a gift for you.”

He pulled something out of his pocket. Oliver didn’t have the capacity to look and see what else he had instore for him.

“That tattoo of yours,” Adrian sighed as he walked over, gesturing to Oliver’s chest, “To be an American with such a rank in the Bratva… You must have done something extraordinary. When you look at it, it must remind you of that. Now, I want it to be a reminder of our time together, and your confession.”

Oliver’s body was no stranger to people scarring it for their gain. But he quickly recognized the blowtorch as Adrian clicked it in preparation.

“Adrian, whatever – whatever pain I caused you,” Oliver said, “I truly I am sorry.”

Oliver didn’t know how much weight his apology even had at this point, but he needed to say it. If Evelyn hadn’t left, he’d say it to her, too. He’d say it to anyone to be able to feel again.

Adrian only chuckled.

“I believe you, Oliver,” he said, “I just… I really don’t care.”

The torch came alive, and the blue flame was all Oliver could see.

* * *

When Oliver woke up again, he was alone. His wrists were free, and his suit jacket and quiver were discarded on the floor.

He couldn’t look at either of them right now.

The door was open. Just as Adrian promised.

Gingerly, he picked himself up and walked to the exit.

When the light of early dawn hit him, he winced. It had been too long since he had seen the sun. It felt invasive on his eyes now.

He took in his surroundings, walking out of the alley and almost laughed. The street was one he recognized to be just around the corner from his old campaign office, and the bunker.

The roads were still empty. Birds sang in the distance to signal the start of the day.

Oliver walked slowly to the base of operations he was once so proud of.

* * *

Six days.

That was how long Felicity had gone without Oliver, without sleep or food or any kind of decent human functioning, really.

But none of that mattered. Because Oliver was missing, and nothing they did was working.

Diggle paced anxiously around the lair. It was just the two of them left in the lair, the others had called it a night a few hours ago, but he agreed to stay with her as she ran a program.

“How much longer?” he asked, not for the first time.

“John,” she closed her eyes and tried not to lose her temper with him, “I promise you when I figure this satellite out I will tell you. I will… it’s just complicated. Okay?”

“Okay,” he nodded, “I’m sorry. It’s just… It’s been almost a week, and, for all we know…”

“Don’t,” Felicity said sternly.

It was a conversation they had to have after the first two days without any sign of Oliver. Diggle wanted to prepare for the worst, but Felicity knew through the horror of the idea that if Adrian killed Oliver, he wouldn’t waste any time in gloating to the rest of the team about it. Even so, it didn’t seem like Adrian’s game here.

So they had pushed those thoughts aside, trying instead to find any trace of Oliver, or any sighting of Adrian. With little (see also: no) results

“I know,” John said, “I know we agreed that Chase wouldn’t, but it’s been a week and –”

When he stopped talking, Felicity looked up from her monitors. The faint sound of the elevator door sliding shut made her jump from her seat and join Diggle.

It was Oliver. His hair was up in every direction, his suit jacket was draped over his shoulders, his exposed chest had dried blood coming down from his shoulder to his wrists, and thick blistering from his pec.

But worst of all, was the vacant expression in his eyes. He walked in as though he was in a daze, sleepwalking instead of being present. He had yet to look up and acknowledge either of them.

He dropped his quiver unceremoniously onto the ground, the arrows falling out and scattering across the floor.

Watching his careful, defeated actions made tears sting in Felicity’s eyes.

“Oliver, oh my god,” she said once she finally found her voice.

He didn’t react to the sound of her voice. She was hardly sure if he even knew she was there.

“Oliver?” John asked after a few moments of unresponsiveness, “What…?”

“Chase had me,” he said eventually, “And he let me go. It’s over.”

“We’re going to get him,” John promised, “Whatever he did to you – we’ll get him.”

Oliver finally looked up, looking heartbreakingly defeated.

“John, it’s – it’s over for me. I can’t do this anymore. I’m shutting everything down. You guys should go home.”

He reached for his spare sweater, and pulled it over his chest, and for the first time Felicity noticed the rapid tremor in his actions.

“Hey,” she stepped forward, lowering her voice in the most gentle tone she could manage without crying, “Maybe we should get you to a real doctor, what do you say? Or at least let me clean you up a bit?”

“Right now, you guys should just… just go home. Get out of here.” Oliver didn’t look at her as she tried to step closer to him, hands hovering. Instead, his attention was fixed to John. Felicity didn’t know what to make of it.

“We’re not going anywhere, Oliver,” John said, “You know that. What happened?”

“Chase is right,” Oliver said simply, “Everyone that comes down here, they… they die, or they suffer. It’s not worth it.  Nothing can be worth that.”

Finally, he looked to Felicity, and she saw a year’s worth of regret in his eyes. The weight of his stare made her push her loose glasses back uncomfortably, Oliver’s eyes followed the action and something about it made his face crumple.

For just a moment. And then he looked away again.

“Please. Just leave.”

John gave her a look that told her that tonight, they had to concede and give Oliver what he wanted, but that they would come back again when he wasn’t so raw from whatever Adrian put him through.

“Okay,” John said.

Felicity reached out to gently touch his arm, just for a moment, but decided against it at the last moment when Oliver turned his head further from her. She ignored what felt like rejection and walked towards the exit.

As the elevator doors closed on her, and she caught her final glimpse of Oliver, hunched over in his chair and unmoving, her back straightened.

When she found out the truth about Adrian, she was devastated. She shed tears, she mourned for the relationship built on lies, the person she was for those few months, the happiness she thought was attainable again…

Now, she wasn’t sad.

She was angry – a red-hot, burning anger she planned on hanging onto until she got what she needed.

She was going to take Adrian Chase down – for what he did to her, for what he did to Oliver.

No matter what the cost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One minor detail I was excited about in this is revealing the motive behind Adrian calling her Ace and how it fits into his broader idea of playing 'games' with Oliver. Also, I'm fond of the parallel between Adrian and Felicity's first meeting in pt i and first meeting after the reveal - both in Oliver's office.
> 
> Anyway. Phew. This one was tough. I might take an extra week before the next one gets posted. 
> 
> Next time: It's Felicity's responsibility to take Adrian down. She's determined to do just that, no matter the cost. Even if it means giving Helix her soul.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Felicity's responsibility to take Adrian down. She's determined to do just that, no matter the cost. Even if it means giving Helix her soul. Even if it means losing her team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all. I'm so sorry for the wait. Sometimes the brain doesn't cooperate, and the necessary slow start was psyching me out. 
> 
> We touch on my favourite episode of season 5, Dangerous Liaisons. I was so eager to adapt it, and one scene in particular. Lots happens here as always. Enjoy!

Oliver locked them out of the bunker.

Felicity was impressed, considering she gave it a peek on her tablet only twenty minutes after he returned, told them the team was over, and asked them to leave.

But it also meant that Oliver opted to change the security protocols instead of resting or cleaning his _horrifying_ wounds.

She knew that with a swipe of the keyboard, she’d be able to override whatever he did, and he probably knew that too, but she had to respect that space was what Oliver needed at the moment.

Adrian did something to Oliver during the week he was missing, beyond the physical scars she could see. Something in his spirit had broken, when he could barely look John or herself in the eye and told them everything was over.

That left Felicity and Diggle the responsibility of telling the rest of the team what happened, as they set up a makeshift lair in Diggle’s apartment.

No one was very happy about the abrupt change in the team plan, or their lack of access to any of their suits or equipment, but Diggle was firm on the idea of listening to Oliver’s wishes.

They still managed to run patrols without the bunker, or comms, despite how difficult it was.

Then, of course, they caught word that Oliver invited the Bratva into Star City to kill Adrian, without discussing it with anyone. They nearly ambushed a bunch of Russians stealing drugs the night before because of it.

Felicity let everyone bicker amongst themselves about next steps – how to take Chase down, how to convince Oliver that he needed to suit up once more, how to tell him that calling in the Bratva was _crazy_.

Alena had finally replied to her message and told her she had something that could possibly help.

No one noticed as she slipped her coat on and out the door.

* * *

It felt like the list of things Oliver needed to do was never-ending.

The first order of business was calling in a favour with Anatoly and the Bratva. His request was simple – kill Adrian Chase, no matter what the cost would be.

Oliver was done playing his games.

Once he managed to lock the lair up as best he could, considering the intellect on his team, his mind finally gave into the exhaustion from the week and he crashed.

When he woke, he knew he had been missing too long to take another day off. His phone was littered with emails and phone calls – the official story Thea told city council was that Oliver went on a retreat, and Susan finally grew sick of the missed calls and told Oliver to not bother returning them.

Oliver pocketed his phone.

A shower, an outfit change, a meeting with Anatoly, City Hall for work, and then packing up the bunker was his plan for the day.

Adrian waiting for him, taunting him once he got to his office was not his plan.

There was little he could do in the moment, not just because they were in a public building, but because something about seeing Chase again brought genuine fear to surface. Oliver felt glued to his office chair watching Adrian speak with other staff with a smile. His heartbeat felt heavy under his too-restricting clothes until Chase finally retreated to his own office.

Oliver knew how he looked walking through City Hall – exhausted, ragged, with a bit of a limp from where Chase stepped on his bad knee at one point during the week. A few lower members of his staff had trouble not staring and whispering when they thought Oliver didn’t know.

He wondered if anyone could see right through the paper-thin mask he was wearing, to hide how defeated he felt. To hide that he didn’t know how to move on, knowing that the _other_ mask he used for years was built on a lie. The life that made him lose his oldest friends, his family… The life he met his best friend and the love of his life in… a lie.

He couldn’t even look at either of them earlier. Knowing they were in the bunker, searching for him and waiting for him to come home while he had learned what he truly was, it was too much for him.

Diggle, who called him a brother. Felicity, who called him her hero.

It all made him sick.

_I wanted to, and I liked it._

When he got back to the lair after another meeting with Anatoly – who was not too happy that a group of vigilantes broke up his drug deal the night before – Oliver planned on packing it all away. Stripping the place down until it was just a basement, no trace of anything that had happened over the year they spent there.

He’d already thrown his Green Arrow suit and equipment into a box, but now it was time to take the rest of it down. The spot his suit hung from looked ridiculous to him now – how could he even consider proudly displaying the weapons that made him a monster, under lights and a glass case?

He pushed the chrome mannequin down and let it come crashing to the floor. The sound made him flinch, and some of the pieces scattered along the floor. He picked them up slowly, grunting as it agitated the burns on his chest.

The sound of the elevator door opening surprised him.

“Bratva, Oliver? Really?” Diggle called out as he walked over.

Oliver opted to answer his question with one of his own.

“How did you get in here? Felicity?”

John stopped his fuming pace a little as he got closer.

“No, she wouldn’t do it,” he admitted, “I had Curtis hack the locks.”

Oliver made a little noise in response. He didn’t know what to make of that.

“You invited Anatoly into our city?” Diggle tried again, “To kill Adrian Chase?”

It was clear from his tone that he was angry. Oliver expected as much. He took a deep breath and prepared himself to cut off one of his oldest friends once and for all.

“I did. He told me his operation was compromised last night by _my team,_ ” Oliver said calmly, “I said that was impossible, because my team no longer exists.”

Diggle walked over to where he stood by the equipment.

“You didn’t really expect us to stand down that easy.”

“I told you to stand down for a reason. Anatoly is doing what I asked, and there’s a price for that,” he pressed his lips together.

“It’s dangerous, Oliver,” Diggle said, “He’s going to use those drugs to create an opiate more powerful than heroin. That’s what you want in the world? Just so he can kill Chase?”

“Chase killed… Thousands of people in this whole sick game he’s been playing to get to me,” Oliver said, “He got on the city staff, he hurt members of the team… He got to Felicity. We need to get him in the ground, and there’s no price too high for me to see that happen.”

“Even selling your soul?”

Oliver wanted to laugh – _what soul?_

“Better mine than yours or Felicity’s,” he said simply.

“So you’re doing all of this,” Diggle waved a hand in the air, “Bratva… Drugs… Just so that we wouldn’t have to kill Chase.”

“I created Prometheus, John,” images of Justin Claybourne’s death flashed in Oliver’s mind, “I created this whole thing. His death shouldn’t be on anyone else’s conscience.”

John rubbed a hand over his face.

“Listen I can’t even… Pretend to understand what happened when Chase had you. I won’t, but he’s convinced you that everything bad that happens to people is your fault and it’s bullshit, Oliver, I swear it is.”

“Tell that to Tommy. Or Laurel, or my mother, or the detective I killed on Christmas. Tell it to Felicity,” Oliver felt his mouth twitch up bitterly, “She was so hurt by Adrian… That night I had to tell her…”

Oliver shook his head.

“This isn’t some – some trauma thing, John. This is the truth. I was keeping myself from seeing it, but now understand.”

Saying it made it easier to believe. The first time he cried out his truth to Adrian, yelling himself hoarse and pulling against his chains, he felt horrified. Now, the longer he lived with it, the easier it was to come to terms with who he was.

The harder part would be getting others to understand, to see past the good person he convinced them he was.

“Anatoly has to kill Chase,” he continued, “That is the only way. The team needs to stand down. I don’t want to keep asking.”

He turned back to the box he was throwing things in, but John wasn’t done.

“That’s too bad, because I dedicated five years of my life to this crusade, _your_ crusade. So did Felicity. She doesn’t blame you for what happened, not one bit,” he said.

“I’m not going to have either of your deaths on my conscience,” Oliver said. _I wouldn’t be able to handle it_ went unspoken.

“You cannot be talking to me about your conscience when you’re getting into bed with the Bratva. This isn’t you. The man I know would never let a group of dangerous criminals into his city to steal _medicine._ ”

“Maybe you don’t know the kind of man I am.”

Oliver said it without feeling, closing his eyes when John almost recoiled. It needed to be done, Oliver thought as he pushed through the hurt it caused him. It needed to be done, so that John would give up on him, on the mission, and hopefully tell the others to do the same.

“Oliver, look at me. Whatever Chase has you believing, it’s not… It’s not true. He’s getting in your head. I can – I can help you. Don’t let him win.”

Oliver couldn’t help but feel like he already had.

“You can’t.”

“I’m your brother,” there was a plea in John’s voice now.

The next words would feel like pulling the knife out.

“You don’t want me as a brother.”

John’s face fell.

“Chase showed me the truth about myself,” Oliver continued, “The crusade you joined… It was just an outlet for me. An excuse to murder people.”

“Oliver –”

“When I put on the hood,” Oliver pushed through. His eyes closed – he had to get through it, he had to say it, “I created this… persona to pretend like it was okay. This entire crusade… The foundation of it was based on a lie. That’s why I’ve disbanded the team. You guys shouldn’t be a part of it.”

Oliver felt like he had reached his limit. He stalked to the elevator and pushed the button open, trying to fight the sound of Chase’s laugh echoing in his head.

* * *

Nothing at Helix came without a price.

Felicity knew that. Lately, she had been racking up a pretty long bill in the pursuit to bring Adrian down, and she was dreading the day that Alena would call in her favours.

Still, the knowledge of her increasing IOUs was pushed aside when Alena presented the information collected – every cell phone video, traffic camera and CCTV footage of Adrian wrapped up in one neat little compilation.

“This is incredible,” she commented, staring at the screen, “I guess it’s too much to hope that Adrian happened to take off his mask in front of a camera?”

Alena grimaced.

“He did, but,” she gestured to the screen. The neck down was easily recognizable as the Prometheus outfit, but his face was pixilated.

Felicity wanted to groan. Of course, he had contingencies on contingencies.

“Why is his face all blurred?”

“We’re thinking the use of some optics scrambling tech that prevents a camera from capturing his image,” Alena explained.

“Okay,” Felicity said slowly, “If he’s using a piece of tech –”

“We can reverse engineer it,” Alena finished with a grin, “One step ahead of you.”

Alena pulled up a chair and began typing.

Felicity’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She glanced quickly at it the message that came in.

John Diggle: _Could really use you in the bunker. Tried talking to Oliver, but both of us might make a dent. Call me._

She dropped the phone on the table. Felicity highly doubted there was anything she could say that could benefit Oliver at the moment. She was hardly capable of keeping herself together these days, and John was always the better talker anyway. She was sure he could handle it.

“So, it looks like the pixilation pattern is consistent with an optics scrambler Kord Industries planned to release in six months,” Alena spoke up, pulling Felicity away from her thoughts.

“Okay,” Felicity said, blinking back into focus. Alena pulled up the specs for the scrambler and Felicity glanced at it, “It looks like it interferes with the camera’s digital conversion circuit… Which…”

She chewed on her lip.

“We’d need physical access to Adrian’s scrambler if we’re going to do anything about it.”

She picked up her phone, swiping aside Diggle’s second text message asking for help and gave someone else a call.

“Curtis,” she said once the other line picked up, “I know you guys are moving on Chase before the Bratva tonight. I need you to do me a favor. No questions asked.”

* * *

The move against Adrian was mostly a bust, it resulted in him getting shot in the shoulder – _good_ , Felicity thought – and being moved to a state protection program. On the bright side, Curtis did as she asked and dropped off the scrambler in the Helix parking lot with only a slightly questioning look on his face.

“So, did Mr. Terrific get what you needed?” Alena asked as Felicity hacked the device.

Her head snapped up from her computer, eyes wide.

“How did you –”

“Oh, come on, _Overwatch,_ ” Alena said with a knowing smile, “Nothing stays secret here. We found out pretty quickly who you were.”

Felicity gulped, feeling for the first time that she was in over her head here at Helix.

“Uh, it’s encrypted,” she gestured to the screen, trying to push the Oliver-sounding thoughts that warned her of the dangers of compromised identities, “Of course it is, we should have seen it coming. It’ll take months to break the encryption. Unless…”

Alena’s eyebrows raised over her thick framed glasses.

“Unless?”

Felicity rubbed at her temples. She did not have a break in planned for tonight, and she really didn’t want to have to explain to Diggle why she’d have to do the breaking in. Either way.

“I guess I’m taking a little field trip to Kord Industries.”

* * *

When Oliver knocked on Diggle’s door, it took him all his strength to not break into the wood.

He was pissed off. The minute he got the news, his head felt so flushed with anger he could barely see straight.

Diggle opened the door, not looking at all surprised at the expression on Oliver’s face. For whatever reason, it incensed Oliver more.

“Chase is being transferred into federal protection, which means the Bratva can’t get to him,” he said angrily.

“Yeah,” Diggle nodded, “You’re welcome.”

The simple response made Oliver’s hand curl up into a fist, his fingers twitching with the urge to lunge.

It scared him, a little. Chase’s words echoed in his head, like he’d be so smug seeing Oliver want to get violent with his friend.

Diggle caught onto the storm crossing Oliver’s mind.

“You had to know we would do it, Oliver,” he said simply, “We’re not done. We as in the team, _and_ you and me. Do you understand that?”

Oliver scoffed, turning his head away.

“Listen, you can tell me that you’re just a killer, or whatever else Chase made you believe, but I don’t buy it for a second, because I _know_ the kind of man you are, Oliver. The good, the bad, the ugly, I’ve seen it all, and I’m not going anywhere.”

By the time Diggle finished his rant, his chest rose and fell with a greater heaviness as he caught his breath.

Oliver wanted to believe him, he wanted to listen, he wanted to…

“Even if you don’t believe it, I do,” Oliver said quietly, “I do… I can’t… I can’t _not_ believe it.”

“Do you remember Langham?” Diggle asked.

Oliver nodded slowly.

“I was ready to let myself rot in prison, never see my family again, and I would have done it if you hadn’t come to get me. You told me to make up for what I did as Spartan. If that’s true for me, it’s just as true for you as the Green Arrow.”

“I don’t think I deserve it anymore,” Oliver replied, looking down.

“So we work until you do,” Diggle said simply, “Together. We’ll start with stopping the Bratva’s op tonight.”

* * *

It was a rare double feature for Team Arrow tonight.

Felicity took Curtis with her to break into Kord Industries, and she knew the rest of the team was on the other side of town trying to stop the Bratva’s drug deal.

With Oliver. A less green version of Oliver, but it was a step.

Felicity had yet to see him since that night he came home, but she was happy he managed to find his way back with Diggle’s help after all.

The break in was almost routine for her now, she noted smugly. It took no time at all to decrypt the scrambler and get a clear image of Adrian. Curtis and Felicity only took a moment to high five at the result before agreeing to return to the bunker – a bunker they now had clearance for again. Felicity assumed it had to do with the conversation John promised to have with Oliver.

“Did you get it?” Diggle called when the elevator doors opened.

Felicity nodded with a grin, feeling the lightest she had in weeks. She plugged her flash drive into the computer and projected the image on all the screens they had.

“This is it – this is what we needed. Something he didn’t plan for,” Oliver turned to her proudly, “You.”

Felicity ignored the way her heart tripped at the unexpected compliment.

“We need to get this to the SCPD,” she said, “And then, I’m going to throw it up all over the internet. He can run, but he can’t hide.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. There was an excited energy in the bunker that hadn’t been there in weeks.

Dinah and Quentin were tasked with running the image down to SCPD, with instructions on how to verify that the picture of Adrian sans-mask was completely unedited.

Felicity set up the police scanner on her computer, and Oliver and John stood on either side of her, listening silently as the police were notified of Adrian Chase’s true identity.

She felt a tightening in her chest as the officers were instructed on how to move on Adrian’s safe house. The fuzzy audio narrated as a number of cars were on their way to the scene, ready to take the man down.

Felicity leaned back in her chair, letting herself feel relief as the officers surrounded the safe house.

But then…

“ _10-78_ ,” a fuzzy voice said, “ _We have the two US Marshals down_.”

Felicity found her back straightening again, leaning towards the computer screen as though doing so would make the information come quicker.

The relief she felt for just a few minutes disappeared as they listened to the officers on scene describe what was going on.

Chase wasn’t in the house, he killed the officers protecting him and escaped somehow.

Oliver gripped the arm of her chair and Diggle’s hand fell on her shoulder. The mutual feeling of dread that filled the room was thick and suffocating.

Chase was on the loose.

This time, there was no telling where he’d go.

* * *

In the week following Adrian’s escape, Felicity hadn’t slept.

Okay, not that she had been getting any beauty sleep from the moment Oliver told her the truth, but now she felt constantly on edge. She walked past every corner expecting him to jump out of it and kill her once and for all.

But she didn’t give that away to anyone, of course. She kept going, because the minute she slowed down it would all catch up to her.

Diggle looked worried, but the only thing that gave it away was when he gently said that his guest bedroom was still open for her. Oliver did nothing but give her his _kicked puppy_ eyes, and she knew somewhere in that complicated head of his, he was working out all the ways Adrian’s escape was his fault.

The rest of the team gave her space, presumably at Diggle’s request. Though, Curtis looked like he had a lot to say since the Kord break in.

Still, Felicity was spending a lot of time at Helix lately, trying to do what Homeland Security, the FBI and ARGUS were all failing to do: find Adrian.

When Alena asked her to get into ARGUS’s system to see what their searches came up with, Felicity didn’t even think twice. They found out that Adrian had an agent on the inside, Jordan Pierce, tipping him off any time the authorities got too close.

Of course, it got complicated when not a day later Pierce was found dead – death by hacked elevator. The team had questions about it, but a familiar line of code had Felicity pulling out of the bunker.

Felicity was angry by the time she got back to Helix.

“Alena,” she said, the tone of her voice sounded scarily like Donna Smoak in her own ears, “Did you hack that elevator?”

“Okay,” Alena looked caught, “Well –”

“You killed that agent!”

“Slow down.”

“Yes or no?” Felicity crossed her arms.

“Kind of,” at the look on Felicity’s face, Alena rushed to continue, “I did, but I didn’t mean to, I swear. I only meant to knock him out.”

It was troubling how comfortable Alena was with taking a life. It was troubling how often Felicity found herself in these kinds of situations.

“I cannot believe I’m hearing this,” she sighed.

“It was for a good reason. Cayden James,” Alena said the unfamiliar name slowly, with gravity that told Felicity he was important to her, “He’s the most skilled hacker in the world.”

“If he was, I would have heard of him.”

“He’s just that good, he’s been a ghost for so long,” Alena explained, and then gestured around the wide expanse of the Helix base, “He’s also the person who formed Helix. Eight months ago, he was taken by ARGUS. Not arrested, not charged, taken. He’s being held somewhere, without any cause, tortured, who knows what else. And I had to get this off the agent, so we can free him.”

She held up a silver device. It looked like a flash drive, but far more sophisticated.

“Alena, you killed someone over this,” Felicity said again, because it honestly didn’t feel like it was sinking in the first dozen times.

“And I will have to live with that,” Alena dismissed, “Now we’re going to find Cayden. And you’re going to help me free him from wherever ARGUS is holding him.”

The look on her face told Felicity that the long, long bill she racked up with Helix was finally being cashed out. It made dread fill in her lungs, but she had known this moment was coming for her.

“Look,” Alena said as she read Felicity’s expression, “Before he was taken, Cayden was working on a biometric tracker that could scan anyone in the world.”

“Anywhere Adrian Chase is?” Felicity asked with a little bit of hope.

Alena nodded.

And Felicity knew there was no other choice to make.

“Okay,” she sighed, “What else? What did this key have to do with it?”

Alena twisted the device around in her hands.

“They’re a type of security protocol ARGUS developed last year, to protect their sensitive information, you need two keys, held by two different agents.”

Felicity exhaled slowly through her nose. She could only picture the look on Lyla’s face right now, if she found out what was going on.

“Maybe we can negotiate with ARGUS for Cayden’s release, instead of hunting keys and killing people,” she suggested, the forced optimism in her voice sounded flat even to her own ears.

Alena laughed.

“Negotiating with ARGUS,” she said, “As if.”

“Just, maybe we should hold off on getting this second key,” Felicity tried to suggest. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she ignored it.

“Look, I get where you’re coming from, but it’s already in motion. I hired some mercenaries to get the other agent for us, they’re moving in tonight.”

Felicity’s phone buzzed impatiently, and she pulled it out of her pocket. A few texts from Diggle greeted her.

8:00 PM: _Team is going to Port Talbert for the night._

8:00 PM: _Lyla asked us to protect an agent she thinks might be in danger, probably related to the elevator murder._

8:02 PM: _Could really use your eyes in the bunker for this one._

8:10 PM: _Messaged received. One of these days I’d really like to get some answers on where you’re going._

Felicity pushed away the guilt she felt at those messages and hit the call icon under Diggle’s name.

The noise in the background told her the team was already there.

“Felicity, where are you?” he asked impatiently, “Never mind, it’s not a good time.”

“John,” she walked to a quiet corner of the room, ignoring Alena’s questioning look, “I need you to stand down.”

“What? Felicity, Lyla asked us to protect the agent.”

Her face twisted in frustration.

“Just, trust me on this one, please. Let those guys take what they need from her, I promise I’ll explain later.”

John’s sigh on the other end of the line was heavy.

“John, I would never ask you to do something if I didn’t know it was important,” she implored.

“Fine,” he said eventually, “But when we get back, I expect you to explain. _In the bunker._ ”

Felicity bit her lip. She probably had that coming.

Once he hung up, she walked back to Alena.

“You should get the key tonight. The agent will be unharmed. I have to get going.”

It was time to face the music.

* * *

She waited in her chair until the rest of the team returned. Her leg bounced rhythmically as she ran her habitual searches on Adrian in the background. The lack of results didn’t surprise her. She hit the enter key and let the searches start up again.

The elevator door opened, and Lyla, Diggle and Oliver came out.

Lyla was the first to make her way over, the force in her steps gave away how angry she was.

“What the hell, Felicity?” she demanded.

“It’s the only way to catch Chase,” Felicity said, standing up to meet her gaze. “This organization I’ve been working with – Helix – needs to free someone named Cayden James for his biometric tracker. A tracker that can help us find Adrian. But we can’t do that when ARGUS has him.”

It did not go unnoticed that both Diggle and Oliver hung back, leaning on the rails by her workstation.

“My agent could have been killed tonight, just like Agent Pierce had been.”

“No,” Felicity said, “The team was there to protect her. And what happened with Pierce was an accident –”

“Now, we’ve lost two keys,” Lyla pushed through, “My agency is vulnerable because of that lost information. What were you _thinking?_ ”

“I was thinking we need to bring Adrian down,” Felicity’s voice started to rise, “And that nothing else we’ve been doing has worked.”

Though she initially had her reservations on Alena’s plan, she felt the need to defend it in front of her friends.

And Oliver and John’s silence through this became too loud for her to handle.

“Guys,” she turned to them with her hands raised, “A little support here would be nice.”

John looked down.

“It might be crossing a line, Felicity,” Oliver said quietly. It was the first thing he said to her that evening, and it made her eyebrows fly up her forehead.

“I really think you’re the last person to give me that lecture, Oliver,” she turned to Lyla, “Or maybe second to last. Don’t tell me I don’t have to do this, you should all know _why_ I want to.”

Felicity felt her anger mounting, and she tried to rein it in. It was hard when everyone looked at her like she was in the wrong, like she wasn’t trying to take Adrian down for everything he had done over the past six months. And like she had been the only one here to consider the ends over the means.

“Lyla’s right,” John finally stepped forward, “There are better ways for us to find Chase.”

“He’s been in the wind for a week,” Felicity closed her eyes as the sound of the police radio came back to her. She pushed the memory, the fear it created, away, “He knows how to stay in the wind. We don’t have any other leads, unless ARGUS lets go of Cayden James.”

She looked to Lyla again, who crossed her arms.

“Not a chance, Felicity,” she said firmly.

Any other day, Felicity would and _had_ respected the kind of leader and person Lyla was. She was her friend, after all. Today, her anger clouded her eyes and she grabbed her coat.

“Fine,” she said, “Then my only choice is to help Helix.”

“Your only choice?” John echoed, “Felicity, we’re on the same side, here.”

“No, John,” Felicity pulled her coat over her shoulders, “I’m on the side that’s going to take Adrian down, so he can’t hurt anyone again. See you around.”

As she walked to the elevators, her heart thudded furiously in her eardrums. Faintly, she heard Oliver call her name and John gently suggest giving her some space.

* * *

Once Felicity had left, John, Lyla and Oliver positioned themselves around the conference table.

“Cayden James?” John eventually asked.Lyla sighed and pulled out her tablet.

“Prisoner 38085, Cayden James,” she said as she pulled up his information.

“What are you holding him on?” John raised an eyebrow.

“He’s a person of interest,” Lyla said vaguely, and it made John sigh.

“So, no crime then? I’m guessing no trial, either?”

“Something to say, Johnny?”

There was a tension that crossed between husband and wife, and Oliver could tell the only reason they held back on it was for his benefit.

“What if Felicity’s right?” he interjected, “She could be. If we gave up James, he can help us find Chase and we’ll give him back to Helix.”

“I know you want to take Chase down, Oliver, but believe me when I say Cayden is dangerous,” Lyla insisted, “Helix has already compromised our security, and now they’re going to go after James. That’s only going to lead to more trouble.”

“Should we try and track this organization down?” John asked.

“I think it might be better if we had Helix came to us,” Lyla said slowly, in the way that told Oliver she was working up a plan that she wouldn’t back down from.

“You want to wait for Helix to try and break him out? That could get a lot of people hurt in the process,” John said incredulously, “Maybe even Felicity.”

“Felicity has chosen her side,” Lyla said, “I don’t need to explain to you how dangerous Helix is. This is our chance to take them down. I’m going to do it with or without your help.”

She brushed off John’s hand when it reached for her and made her way to the exit.

John watched the elevator door close in front of his wife. A conflicted look crossed his face for a moment before he wiped it off, doing what they all did so well: compartmentalize for the bigger issues at hand.

“We have to get Felicity out of this organization,” Oliver said finally, “Or at least less involved than she already is.”

“We knew she was in something,” John sighed, leaning back in his chair, “We knew it was bad.”

Oliver recalled that day, just a few weeks ago, when he approached Felicity about it and she told him they would talk about it later.

Later, later, that’s where everything ended up with them. They put off the tough conversations until it was too late and fragmented them further. It had been happening for years.

“We just let her get in deeper,” Oliver said regretfully.

“Grief makes people do crazy things,” John reasoned, “You and I know that better than most. And with the year she’s been having, even before we knew the truth about Chase?”

He shook his head.

“So what do you think we should do?” Oliver asked.

“Look, maybe we should have talked her out of Helix earlier or recognized the signs earlier. It’s too late for that now. Right now, I think you should try talking to her.”

Oliver almost laughed.

“I’m serious, I think you’re the only person she might listen to,” John said at the look on his face.

“I don’t think I have much credibility with her right now,” Oliver said. He was still a work in progress himself these days, if he went to talk to her she’d probably think he was a raging hypocrite.

“We have to try,” John insisted, “Not trying is what got us here in the first place. Look, you both want to bring down Chase for the ways he hurt you personally. Use that, because I know you’re the only one who can pull her back from the brink.”

John had a habit of being right.

This time, Oliver wasn’t so sure he’d be able to get through to Felicity.

* * *

It had been a long time since Felicity had been in her apartment. She meant to drop by, but between Helix and Arrow work and living with John there just wasn’t any time.

That was an excuse. The truth was she felt wary being here now, alone. The open windows made her feel exposed, in every corner of her home she could feel the way Adrian had taken up the space.

She just needed to grab a few supplies, maybe a change of clothes for a night of field work with Helix, and she promised herself she would be out.

Dust had collected along the surfaces of her table, which she viewed with a little relief, because it meant that maybe Adrian hadn’t been by for a visit while she was gone. She didn’t dare to linger in her bedroom to handle any of the stray items he left behind, she knew that would be a problem for after he was behind bars.

A list of problems that grew to the floor, at this point.

The sudden knock on the door made Felicity’s pulse skyrocket. She grabbed the nearest weapon she could find – the letter opener on the coffee table – and walked slowly towards the door. One look in the peephole to reveal a fidgeting Oliver made her sag in relief.

She opened the door.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hey,” she said, “Surprised to see you through the front door for once.”

The quip came out before she could stop it, with Adrian on her mind it was hard to not make reference. She regretted it the moment she saw the pained look cross Oliver’s face.

“Can I come in?” he asked, clasping his hands together.

Felicity set the letter opener down and crossed her arms.

“I was actually just about to leave.”

Oliver’s eyes skated her up and down, with more calculation in his eyes than attraction.

“I can see that,” he said, “It’ll just be a minute.”

Felicity looked at the time. She still had a few minutes before she agreed to meet Alena.

“Okay,” she sighed, “Sure.”

She opened the door wider to let him in. He crossed the room, looking around the loft. She wondered when the last time he had even been in here, without anyone else on the team acting as a buffer.

“So, you’re not sitting behind a keyboard for this one.”

“Can you blame me?” Felicity asked with an edge to her voice. If he came by here for another lecture, she was not above kicking him out.  

“Not at all. You know that I’ve been willing to do whatever it takes to stop Chase.”

“Right,” she said, “Then let me do it.”

“It’s just –” Oliver stumbled, “You’re willing to do whatever it takes to stop him.”

“Okay, so?”

“It doesn’t need to be that way. We can – we can find another way.”

“How, Oliver?” Felicity asked tiredly, “Nothing else has worked. We both know that. This is our only chance.”

“Listen, I,” his voice dropped, “I know what you’re going through, why you think –”

Felicity laughed without humor.

“Oh my god,” she said, “No, you don’t get to do that. You have no  _ idea  _ what I’ve been going through.”

The anger she felt building up since Lyla told her to stand down, since Oliver went missing and shut the team down, since she found the truth about Adrian, since… she didn’t even know anymore, finally came to the surface.

“Chase took you,” she said, “And he got on your staff, and obviously did something to you since you still won’t put on the hood, but… He did something to me, too.”

Once she started, it was impossible to stop.

“He’s gotten in my head. He got into my  _ home _ , he made me feel safe. I had finally let my guard down and, god, Oliver, I opened up to him. I was –  I was  _ okay _ . I was finally okay again, after –”

She stumbled. Her rant cut itself off as she realized what she was going to say. Her cheeks, which had started to heat angrily as she spoke, now burned in shame.

“After me.” Oliver finished quietly.

“Yeah,” Felicity’s shoulders sagged. There was no point in pretending otherwise.

“So, now you think it’s your responsibility to take him down?”

“I know it is,” Felicity answered simply.

“You didn’t create him. I did, five years ago.”

“Maybe so,” Felicity fought at the lump in her throat, “But there’s no telling how much he’s done because of me. Because I let him in.”

“Don’t –”

“Blame myself?” Felicity asked with a self-deprecating smile, “What, is that only okay when you do it?”

Oliver sighed in frustration.

“I can’t know what it was like,” he admitted, “To be with him like you had, and then finding out the truth. I won’t pretend to. But this is me asking you, despite that, please don’t do this. You’ve seen me cross lines for this city, but you know more than anyone else the toll it’s taken on me. I can’t sit back and let you do this knowing how much it could hurt you.”

Felicity felt her anger fading, leaving her with burning tears in her eyes for herself, for her admission that still hung in the air, for Oliver.

“You know, one of the reasons I fell in love with you is because you were always willing to do what was right, even if it was hard,” the raw honesty surprised both of them, but she continued, “How can I be any different? You’ve sacrificed your soul for the city, for the team… For me. Let me carry some of that burden.”

Her voice dropped to a whisper by the end, a stark contrast from the way she had shouted only minutes ago. During her speech, she moved closer to Oliver, until their hands were close enough to grasp at each other. The pull to do so was strong, but she ignored it.

“Felicity I … I can’t,” Oliver whispered, “You know that.”

Felicity sighed.

“Then I guess you’ll just have to stop me,” she moved around him to walk out the door, “You know the way out.”

* * *

The mission went by a smoothly as Felicity could expect it to go. The keys Alena acquired worked on the cell holding Cayden James and he was freed.

It didn’t feel great being on the wrong side of ARGUS and her own team, and the look on Oliver’s face when she crossed him would haunt her for months, but in the end, it was worth it.

Or, that’s what she tried to tell herself as she drove to Helix’s headquarters. She was hoping for a quick debrief, she was exhausted and in desperate need of a shower and, since she probably wasn’t welcome back at Diggle’s for the night, she needed to figure out how to sleep in her own home again.

Her quick pace into Helix faltered as she came to find it empty. Every computer, every monitor and wire were gone. There wasn’t so much as a paperweight left behind.

Like they had never been here.

“Hello?” she called out, even though she knew the place was empty.

A monitor she hadn’t noticed, on the far-left wall, lit up and made her jump.

Alena’s image smiled sadly.

“Hey, Felicity.”

“Where are you? Are you okay?”

“We’re safe,” Alena assured her, “Thank you for all of your help but… Here’s the thing.”

She pursed her lips.

“Your connection to the Green Arrow and his team, it’s a liability for us. Tonight was… It could have gone south.”

“Right,” Felicity tried to force optimism in her voice against the sinking feeling in her stomach, “But once we get Chase, the Green Arrow will see all the good Helix can do.”

“I’m really sorry,” Alena said, “We just can’t risk it. Especially when ARGUS comes looking for Cayden again. I really did love getting to work with you for these few months. And we left you a little present. Look down.”

Felicity blinked rapidly and looked to one of the abandoned tables.

Sitting unceremoniously was a small white and red device, wrapped in a thin bow that Felicity suspected was Alena’s doing.

“What is this?”

“Cayden whipped it up,” Alena said with a smile, “Told you he was the best there was. I hope we’ll meet again soon. Take care, Felicity.”

The screen went black.

“Yeah, you too,” she muttered into the silence.

She looked at the device in her hands. It was everything she had wanted for days, but with no Helix and potentially no Team Arrow behind her, she wondered if it was even worth it anymore.

* * *

When her security code still worked for the bunker, Felicity took it as a sign of hope that maybe she hadn’t lost her other team as well tonight. She was relieved to see that it was empty as she walked over to her computers and plugged Cayden James’ device in.

“Is that it?” Oliver called as the program started up. His voice surprised him, she didn’t think he’d be down here, “The magic tracker to find Chase?”

Felicity fought the urge to roll her eyes at his simplification.

“The biometric tracker, yes.”

“You brought it here.”

“Yeah, well, Helix froze me out,” she said with bite in her voice, “So, that’s over.”

“I’m sorry,” Oliver said.

This time, she did roll her eyes.

“Here I thought you wouldn’t lie to me again,” she said, turning to face him.

“I’m not lying, I am sorry. I know that being with Helix gave you… belonging, that I didn’t –”

“No, that is not it,” Felicity said. Some of her anger returned to her, “You wouldn’t back my play. Or even listen to me.”

“I was just worried about you,” Oliver raised his hands helplessly, “We all were.”

“All I wanted was a bit of trust. After all these years, I’ve supported you in decisions you know I didn’t agree with, and this one time you couldn’t do the same for me.”

Oliver ran his hand through his hair in frustration. She could see that he was tired, but hell, she was too.

“Whatever,” she said, “We can talk about this after –”

“After Chase, right,” Oliver said.

Felicity wanted to say something – _a_ _lot_ of somethings – to the tone in his voice, but the computer chirping turned both of their attention.

“What is it?” Oliver asked.

“It’s the tracker working on Adrian’s location.”

The map on the screen zipped around the city, gradually zooming in on familiar neighborhoods before freezing.

Both Oliver and Felicity’s back straightened as the realization set in.

“He’s here,” she said.

The sound of electricity crackling made Oliver grab her hand, but it was too late. A blast from the computers sent them both flying into the darkness.

* * *

The blast must have knocked her out. That’s the conclusion Felicity easily came to when she blinked into the darkened bunker.

Everything hurt – that was her second conclusion. Her head ached from where she landed on the bunker floor, there was a throbbing behind her eyes now. Her shoulder ached, probably from the fall as well. Her legs…

Oh, no.

Real fear spread through Felicity’s veins, the kind of fear she hadn’t felt in so long. She closed her eyes and tried desperately to move her foot, wiggle her toes, or hell, even one toe. Tears filled her eyes when she realized she couldn’t.

“Felicity? Felicity?!” Oliver called out. The blast must have sent them in separate ways even though he grabbed her before it happened.

“I’m here,” she called out, wiping a stray tear away with her shoulder.

His feet slammed against the ground as he found her. He had grabbed a decent sized gun and held it close to his chest.

“Hey. Chase – he’s here. Don’t move,” he said fiercely. Felicity almost laughed.

“That’s not going to be a problem,” she assured him.

Oliver’s neck swiveled as he scanned the area.

“If Chase is here, he’s not on this level. What was that, an explosion? Nothing’s damaged but the lights.”

“It was an EMP,” Felicity said, her eyes pressing closed as a wave of pain shot through her when she tried to move, “A burst of electromagnetic radiation – everything here with an electric circuit has been fried.”

Oliver’s eyebrows furrowed. He looked down at her tangled limbs on the floor, and it looked like he finally what was really going on.

“How do you know?” he asked slowly, though something told her he knew the answer to that.

“My implant isn’t working,” she said, swallowing hard. The next sentence was the one thing she had nightmares about saying again, “I can’t feel my legs.”

Oliver bent down right away, grabbing her hand and squeezing it. He gently tugged to help her sit up and checked for injuries. The gentleness in his actions made it hard to stop another tear from leaking out, but Felicity wiped it away quickly.

“I’ll – okay. I’ll be right back,” Oliver said gently, pushing off his feet and running to another part of the lair. Felicity fought the urge to say something stupid, like,  _ I’ll be right here _ because he wouldn’t find it funny and frankly, neither did she.

He returned with a wheelchair. Something she also hadn’t seen in just over a year, since she left Oliver’s engagement ring on the table and powered through the rest of her physical therapy alone. She swore she’d never see it again.

“I don’t know why I kept it,” Oliver said sheepishly, “I just – I thought – I was always worried about any accidents happening here, and –”

Felicity’s nose burned with unshed tears.

“I appreciate it,” she said simply.

Felicity fought the familiar sting of shame that came with Oliver helping her into the chair. It was hard to imagine that this was once routine. Those few months of her life had been something she worked so hard to get away from, every morning since the chip started working would start with her stretching her legs, wiggling her toes, just to make sure that nothing would ever happen again.

To lose that was one of her biggest fears coming true.

Her eyes closed as one more memory came flooding back to her. The night before Oliver’s holiday party, when she couldn’t sleep.

_Her hand traced along the base of her spine, along the surgery line._

_“An implant designed to help me walk,” she said, “My miracle chip.”_

_“Wow,” Adrian whispered. She could feel as he shifted behind her. “Do you mind if I –?”_

_She nodded. His fingertips ran along the edge of the lines gently, and she resisted the urge to shudder._

Adrian knew about the chip. She wondered if his EMP was done with that in mind, or if it was just a convenient circumstance for him.

Either way, she felt so angry with herself – again – for opening up to him all those months ago.

Oliver’s hand rested on her shoulder, and she opened her eyes again.

“You okay?” he whispered.

She honestly didn’t know how to answer that.

“We need to see if Adrian’s really here,” she answered, “If he isn’t, we figure out what his plan was, and then get out of here.”

Oliver looked like he wanted to push more, but he nodded.

“There’s no sign of Chase anywhere. If he was here, he would have made it known by now.”

“So then it looks like the EMP was his play,” Felicity chewed on the inside of her cheek, “I’m guessing the elevator and security doors are offline. Emergency exit?”

“Welded shut,” Oliver said with a sigh, “Air vents are going to be down, too. We need to get a message out to the rest of the team.”

She didn’t want to say it, but that was looking to be hard with no electricity and no actual way of leaving the bunker.

They were trapped.

“So, what, is he trying to kill us down here?”

Oliver shook his head.

“Chase doesn’t want to kill me, he’s made that clear. He’s locked us down here because he’s planning something up there, and now I can’t do anything about it,” Oliver nearly kicked the emergency exit door in frustration.

“Okay,” Felicity said slowly, “There’s not much he can do. He’s targeted the whole team before, plus there’s a nationwide search going for him. What’s left?”

Oliver looked down.

“William.”

It had been so long since Felicity heard that name. It brought a wave of sadness that she didn’t have time for.

“William’s in a different town with a different name,” she tried to say reassuringly, “I doubt Adrian even knows he exists.”

“That week that he had me, Chase had a picture of William,” Oliver said in a low voice, “He knows he exists. I doubt he knows where he is, but if we don’t get out of here soon…”

Felicity nodded.

“We’ll get out of here,” she promised. Twisting her wheelchair, she looked around the bunker, trying to find any ideas for how to get out.

Oliver paced around the room, stopping by the elevator.

His back faced her, but she could see the wheels turning in his head.

“I can get us out of here by climbing up the elevator shaft.”

She tried not to laugh at the confidence in his voice. There were some things about Oliver that would never change.

“This is Adrian we’re talking about. He has back up plans on back up plans. If you can think of it, I know he has too.”

“So, what,” Oliver turned around, “You think he’s rigged it?”

She nodded.

“Definitely. We should focus instead on getting a signal out to the team,” she said, “They’re the best bet we have at getting out of here.”

“You just said everything with an electric circuit down here has been fried,” Oliver argued, turning back to the elevator. When he raised his arms to pry open the doors, Felicity pushed herself towards him.

“What are you doing?!” she asked, “I just told you this could be a trap.”

“You figure out how to get power,” he grunted, “I’ll try this.”

Felicity tried not to get angry – they couldn’t afford it right now – but it was hard. He still wouldn’t just _listen_ to her.

It was hard for her to feel any sympathy when Oliver climbed the elevator, got electrocuted and took a nasty fall on a particularly thick loose nail. He limped over to her, holding his bleeding back with a sheepish expression.

Idiot.

She refrained from telling him as much as she cleaned the wound, and only revelled in a little bit of satisfaction at the way he hissed as she stitched him up.

“You remember what we were talking about before we got blasted?” she asked instead.

Oliver grunted in response.

“Thought so,” she chirped, “It was about how I back your ideas even when I don’t agree, but you don’t have the same consideration for me. Like just now. Like Helix.”

“Is this really the best time?” Oliver asked quietly.

She shrugged.

“Probably not,” she said, “But it’s not like we have anything better to do.”

“I had good reason not to trust Helix.”

She finished stitching it as best she could, but they both knew a wound that big needed more medical attention than she could give on short notice.

“I’ve had good reason to not trust some of your ideas, but I support you because I trust you.”

“I do trust you,” he sighed.

She pulled his t-shirt down, ignoring the way it was spotted with blood.

“Sure, you do,” she said, “Let’s just focus on getting some power.”

Getting power was easier said than done – who knew? Felicity peered over the power box in the far corner of the bunker while Oliver analyzed the blueprints for any way of getting out.

“You know,” he said quietly, as she tried to gently pry open the box, “About Helix… You have to know why I wouldn’t back that play. You know it was never about a lack of trust.”

Felicity sighed. This is what they always did, talk in circles because they were too stubborn to give the other one an inch.

“What, is it because you didn’t want me to become like you?” she asked.

“Cayden James is a criminal,” he retorted, “I didn’t want you getting involved in that.”

“He’s a hacker,” she corrected, “You know, like me. And, not so bad next to the members of the _Bratva_ you called two weeks ago. I don’t see how this is worse.”

Oliver said nothing. The way his jaw ticked gave away that he probably had more to say but decided against it.

Felicity returned to working on the power box, but it was hard with low visibility and now her emotions clouding at her vision. She pushed her screwdriver in with just a little too much force and triggered another small blast that sent her flying.

Before she knew it, Oliver was by her side, pulling her away from the damaged wall.

“What was that?” he asked once they both caught their breath.

“It must have been like what Adrian planted in the elevator shaft,” she explained with a sigh, “I should have known.”

She didn’t want to say it, but the more time they wasted with losing to Adrian’s tricks, the more oxygen they were losing. Her most generous estimates gave them at least twenty minutes before they asphyxiated.

Not exactly how she imagined going.

Oliver went back to the blueprints he spread across the table, a limp in his step.

“Okay, there’s a steam tunnel under this part of the bunker,” he said. Looking up, he found the wall it was located and pushed aside a cabinet with little effort, revealing a door.

He pried it open with a grunt, pulling back and leaning against the wall to catch his breath. In the dim lights, Felicity could see as his head glistened with sweat, and the shortness of his breathing told her the wound in his back was catching up to him.

It was not something they could afford right now.

“You okay?” she asked quietly.

It made him leap off the wall and blink rapidly.

“Fine,” he said with a little pant in his voice. He leaned in to look at the opening of the tunnel, “It looks like it’s a bit of a drop.”

“Drop?” Felicity echoed.

* * *

Getting down was not a problem.

Well, it was. Felicity hated that she had to rely on Oliver like she had, and she knew he would never give away how much it probably hurt his already wounded back, but they made it down eventually.

The room they ended up with was smaller, which Felicity knew didn’t do them much good in terms of oxygen flow. It was bare, no place for Oliver to put Felicity down comfortably since they had to leave the wheelchair behind. He gently rested her against the concrete wall.

Felicity leaned her head against the wall. The heat and thinned air was getting to her, not to mention her dried tongue from a lack of water, and she couldn’t even remember the last time she ate while in pursuit of Adrian. It was starting to become a dangerous combination.

“It’s another dead end,” Oliver said with a sigh, wiping at the perspiration on his head.

“Not the most optimistic choice of words,” she retorted with a little bit of lightness, hoping it would bring him back. His blinking was getting longer, and his stance had a sway in it. It worried her.

 “Oliver, maybe you should sit down,” she suggested gently.

He gave no indication that he heard her. He wiped at his eye again and blinked heavily, swaying until he leaned against the wall.

“Oliver!” she called out with more alarm in her voice, and it made his eyes open again “Oliver, you need to sit.”

He landed next to her with a heavy thud, and she tried not to think about what more damage it could do.

“You need to stay awake, okay?” she said. When he stared off into the empty space, she leaned closer to grab at his face, “Oliver? Do you hear me?”

“Felicity I’m – I’m losing a lot of blood,” his speech slurred, that was not a bad sign at all, “I’m so sorry.”

The sudden admission, and the way he urgently grabbed at her arms as he said it made Felicity fill with dread.

“You were right, earlier,” he admitted, “I didn’t have your back, and that was wrong, but it was never about trusting you.”

“Oliver, please, we can talk about this later.”

“Later,” he repeated hoarsely, “We keep saying later. We keep pushing things away, and pushing each other away. Now I might not have a later.”

Felicity’s throat clogged in fear.

“Oliver Queen, you’re not allowed to talk like that right now,” she demanded, tears brushing at the corners of her eyes.

“I need you to hear this,” he said, “I need you to know the truth. Helix, all of it, it was never about not trusting you. It was – it was because of me. I’m not the man you think I am, the one you fell in love with.”

“Oliver, what –”

“This life… What we all did, you, me, and Diggle did for the city…”

His breathing came out heavier the more he spoke, his hot breath brushing against Felicity’s face. She wanted to tell him to save his energy, but she couldn’t bring herself to stop him.

“I said it was to right my father’s wrongs, but that was a lie. Everything we did has been based on a lie.”

His eyes fluttered shut again and Felicity gently brushed a hand over his cheek to bring him back. She caught the stray tear that trailed down his skin.

“What are you talking about?” she asked, shaking her head.

“When Adrian had me,” he said, “He showed me the truth. I didn’t just do all of this to be a hero, I did it because there’s a part of me that… enjoyed it, all the violence, the killing. So, I didn’t want you to become like me. It wasn’t about trust, I will _always_ trust you. I just don’t trust myself.”

His eyes slipped shut again and he went limp against the wall.

“Oliver, hey,” she said, fear gripping her like a hand around the throat, “You need to wake up.”

His eyes stayed shut for a few minutes – Felicity counted every second – and his breathing evened out. His chest rising and falling under her hand was the only reason she didn’t lose hope.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to get us out of here,” he said quietly, “I’m so sorry.”

“Oliver,” she said gently, “Do you really believe that?”

Oliver didn’t say anything. He looked down in shame.

“It’s why you tried to disband the team,” she said, “And why you won’t put on the hood again.”

Everything made sense now. She knew Adrian did something to him during that week, to crush his spirit, she had no idea he filled Oliver’s head with so many lies.

“Oliver, I know the kind of man you are. I wouldn’t have fallen in love with you, or wanted to marry you if I didn’t.”

It had been months since they were this open about their feelings, but Oliver believed they would die down there, so she had nothing left to lose.

“You said Adrian made you see who you really are, but he had you for a week. You’re the toughest person I know but _anyone_ would admit to _whatever_ he wanted under duress.”

“Adrian didn’t make me a killer,” Oliver retorted tiredly.

Felicity thought back to all the things she’d seen since she’d joined the team five years ago. Even when she didn’t agree with Oliver’s methods, she was never under any delusions of what they were doing.

“You did what you had to do to survive,” she said, “The island, here at home, all of it. I know the kind of person you are.”

“And if I don’t?” Oliver asked. The uncertainty was written all over his face.

“Then we’ll help you find that person again.”

For the first time in almost a year Felicity felt like they were starting to get back on the same page again – she finally knew what had been bothering him for the past two weeks.  

If Oliver had a response to that, she didn’t hear it over the sound of the concrete wall to the left of them exploding. It spurred Oliver out of the tired state he was in, and he lunged to shield Felicity away from the debris. They squinted at the first bright light they’d seen in an hour shone from the hole, and a familiar silver sphere floated towards them.

“ _Oliver? Felicity? Can you guys hear us?_ ”

Felicity vowed that, if they made it out of there, she would never make jokes at the expense of Curtis’ balls again.

* * *

When asked about it later, Felicity would honestly not be able to recount how they got out of the bunker.

When she heard the team’s voices through the little speaker, she handed all her faith over to them and trusted they would get her out. The only thing she felt was her grip on Oliver’s sweater.

He had been fading long before the emergency rescue, and as they were pulled up, Felicity felt the events of the day catching up to her, too. She was lightheaded from the fear and panic and lack of oxygen, her back ached with something fierce, and her head was still bleeding from where she had fallen after the initial EMP blast.

Any adrenaline that kept them going ran out when they saw the light of day.

Lyla had immediately airlifted them to the ARGUS base for medical treatment. By the time Oliver and Felicity were pulled in different hospital rooms, she found herself finally giving into the fatigue that pulled at her.

* * *

Felicity eventually woke to the sound of faint whispering and the whirring of machines in the distance. She was in a bed unlike her own. Her arm shifted, and she felt a familiar tug at her forearm. It had to be an IV.

As she remembered everything that happened over the past day, she pressed her eyes tighter and braced herself.

She wiggled a toe.

It brushed against the sheet covering her body.

She almost cried in relief.

Her ears focused on the voices again. A little far, but still in the same room. Oliver and Lyla.

 _He’s okay,_ she thought with a smile. It gave her the strength to open her eyes.

The room was dimmed with blue walls, which made it easier for her to adjust to her surroundings even without her glasses. She twisted against the hospital bed and groaned, which caught the attention of the other people in the room.

“Felicity,” Lyla walked over, smiling tiredly, “Good to see you’re up. Our doctors reviewed your vitals, and the implant, everything looks to be okay, but we want you to rest for a while. How are you feeling?”

Felicity nodded, glancing around the room with a squint. Her glasses were folded against the tray next to her bed and she reached for them.

“I’m fine,” she said, looking around the room, “How’s Oliver?”

Lyla gave her a knowing smile and pulled the curtain back to reveal a second hospital bed, Oliver sitting up.

“Hey,” he said gently.

“I’ll give you guys the room,” Lyla whispered before walking out the door.

“We made it,” Felicity said with a smile, leaning back against the pillows.

“We did,” Oliver nodded. The room wasn’t too big, their beds were actually close enough that they didn’t need to speak above a whisper here. “How are you feeling?”

Felicity twisted her ankle a little. It felt sore, but it was satisfying.

“I’m all good,” she assured him, “How about you? Things didn’t look so good back there.”

Oliver nodded.

“I know, I’m sorry if I scared you. They took me in for surgery.”

Felicity looked down to her bed, tracing a finger against the sheets.

“Some day, huh?” she said.

“Some day,” he echoed.

“About what we talked about, in there,” she started, “What Adrian’s made you believe, you know – I mean – you should know –”

“I’m working on it,” Oliver said hesitantly.

It was the best she would probably get for now.

“Good,” she said, “I’ll be right there to help you.”

“You always are,” he said with a small smile.

Felicity looked down. She didn’t know what to say to that, given the past few months, between Adrian and Helix, that probably wasn’t true.

“Hey,” Oliver called out gently, as if sensing the change in her mood, “You and I work best as a team. We always have.”

“We haven’t been much of a team lately,” Felicity muttered.

“No, we haven’t,” he admitted, “We haven’t been talking to each other.”

Felicity nodded. It was true, every important, emotional conversation they needed to have got shoved aside for whatever was _more important_ at the moment. From Oliver wanting to talk after their staged wedding, after their night together in the bunker, to fighting over Susan, to finding out the truth about Adrian, to Helix…

It took them literally being trapped underground to have the first real conversation they had in a year. Felicity wasn’t sure what that even said about them.

“Well, we have nothing better to do right now,” Felicity patted her bed lightly, “Unless you have somewhere else to be.”

Oliver laughed.

“No, I don’t,” he said.

When he lifted himself off of his bed with a grunt, Felicity’s eyes widened.

“Whoa, what are you doing?” she said as he pushed his IV toward her, “I was kidding, you really should be resting.”

“No, you’re right, this is the best time for us to talk,” he winced as he sat on the edge of her bed.

Felicity opened her mouth a few times before closing it again, and then laughed.

“God, I don’t even know where to start.”

“I guess, there’s one thing we never talk about,” Oliver said, looking down, “Last year. When we broke up.”

Felicity’s insides twisted.

“I shouldn’t have lied,” he said finally, looking up with shining eyes, “About William. That was wrong. And we never addressed it again, I never got to tell you how sorry I am for hurting you.”

He was right. They never talked about this, she seldom ever let herself think about what happened last year, but they needed to.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “I guess, after that is when we stopped working as a team.”

“Yeah,” Oliver nodded, “It just wasn’t the same. We were a team, but not really. Not in the way we should have been.”

Felicity thought back to the summer, when everyone else left but she agreed to stay. When they would go days without talking beyond team business.

“Maybe if we had worked together, Adrian wouldn’t have entered the picture the way he did,” she said with regret, thinking back to the first few times she met him at City Hall.

“If I had spoken up sooner, maybe he would have never hurt you,” Oliver said darkly.

It summed them up pretty well. Two stubborn people who loved each other too much to let the other ever take the blame.

“Helix?” he asked, “How long had that been going on?”

Felicity almost laughed. They really were getting it all out in the open tonight.

“Alena approached me when you were in Hub City,” she admitted, “I got offered a place in the organization a while after that. I don’t… I don’t know. After everything that happened, after I watched Havenrock fall last year, I felt so helpless. I was looking for a way to fix the world, fix _me,_ and it felt like I couldn’t on the team and… Helix was there.

“Later, when we found out the truth about Adrian, I felt like I didn’t deserve to be in the bunker,” she never admitted it to herself before, much less voice it to anyone else, “Helix made sense. And they had resources. I felt like it was my responsibility to take Adrian down myself, and I was willing to do whatever it took.”

Her voice was thick and her vision misty by the time she finished her explanation. It had been so long since she had been this open with Oliver – with anyone. And she missed it.

She hadn’t just lost her fiancé last year, she lost her best friend, the one person she could talk to about anything.

Oliver reached for her hand and knitted their fingers together, a silent thank you for opening up.

She stared at their intertwined fingers. His calloused palm was warm and comforting as it always was.

She knew that everything they dealt with couldn’t be resolved in one conversation, but she also knew now the door was open. After a year of awkwardly dancing around one another, or fighting and not talking for days, she was ready to let them heal again. Slowly. Surely.

“Hey,” he whispered. She looked up through wet lashes, “I won’t let Adrian Chase hurt you ever again.”

Felicity found herself smiling. The words made determination steel her spine for the first time in a long time. She gripped his hand tighter.

“Funny,” she said, “That was my line.”

Oliver matched her smile. He leaned down, wincing just a little, to press a kiss on her forehead. She found herself sinking into the touch. When he pulled back, they rested their heads against each other.

A sense of peace washed over her. With the two of them working together again, Adrian wouldn’t stand a chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last scene was one of the most important ones I had been building to since the beginning of the fic. I hope it stuck the landing. I only got totally self-indulgent towards the end there.
> 
> I hate to sound bleak, but no promises on the next update being speedy. Midterms start next week and life picks up. I'm really sorry, but I appreciate the patience and all the love I've gotten thus far.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver still struggles with putting on the hood. Felicity distracts herself with party planning, of all things. It's Thea's idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all, sorry for completely disappearing for almost two months. I hope this one makes up for it: Olicity acted completely on their own accord as I wrote it. I'm weak but I regret nothing. You'll see what I mean. If you're still here, let me know if you like. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Felicity was starting to wonder what a normal week on Team Arrow felt like.

They had normal weeks once upon a time, she was sure of it.

After the bunker rescue, Felicity and Oliver were out of commission for a few days, letting the team take the reigns on restoring their workspace.

When Felicity had been released from ARGUS’s med bay, she was wary of how things with Oliver would be going forward. It was one thing to be open and honest while coming off the heels of a near death experience, but keeping that was a different story.

So far, all she knew was that things between her and Oliver _changed._

In the best way.

They were lighter than they had been before. When he asked her for something there was a smile and a please, when she gave him information, he thanked her with a hand on her arm.

There was the silent agreement that they were working towards something, with a little more care this time for the mistakes they made.

Their mutual understanding knew that things could only go slow until Adrian was off the board, which is why everyone was logging more hours in the bunker lately.

Judges in Star City came out with a few decision overturning some of Adrian’s convictions, which means a lot of people that Team Arrow put away over the year were released on bail.

Dangerous criminals on the streets, fine, Felicity could deal with.

The super creepy body in concrete suddenly being delivered to Oliver’s office thanks to Adrian, not so much.

Again: she really missed normal Team Arrow weeks.

She pulled up the dental records when Oliver asked—with another smile, oblivious to the smirks from other members of the team.

“His name is Henry Goodwin,” she recited off the screen, “Ring any bells?”

Oliver shook his head.

Felicity kept reading through the information.

“Looks like he was a councilman in the Glades back in 2002,” she said, “I’m not really seeing the connection between this guy and Adrian, though. He was reported missing in 2002 and dead the next year.”

“Keep looking for anything you can find,” Oliver said, “Anything that connects him to Chase or maybe his father.”

Felicity started running a few programs on Henry Goodwin’s life.

“What if there’s no connection?” Diggle spoke up.

“There always is, Chase does everything for a reason.”

Felicity’s eyebrow twitched at that— _no kidding_.

“We’re already spread a little thin around here keeping an eye on the guys that judge set free,” Diggle said, crossing his arms. There was tension there, weariness. Felicity knew that came from a long year of never ending to-dos.

“I asked Quentin to task the SCPD with monitoring the most dangerous people,” Oliver said, “Hey, Felicity, do you have a—”

“Program running with all the people and monitoring activities through facial recognition?” she finished lightly, “I sure do.”

Oliver hid a smile.

“Most dangerous?”

“My bet’s on Derek Sampson,” she shuddered at his mugshot on the screen. Something about that guy’s face always wigged her out.

“Alright,” Oliver turned to the others, “Keep your eyes on him and whoever else might be dangerous.”

“And the creepy body in your office?” Curtis asked.

“We’ll wait for the SCPD evidence and a connection to come up,” Oliver answered. The clear dismissal in his tone made the rest of the team clear out.

Felicity stayed at her station, working on the programs for the Goodwin and the overturned convictions.

Oliver lingered for a moment, before retreating to another part of the bunker. When she heard him rustling around she assumed he was about to leave too.

Until he gently placed a coffee mug on her desk. And a small paper bag she recognized from the bakery across the street.

She fought a smile.

“What’s this?” she asked.

Oliver shuffled from one foot to the other, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

“I didn’t want the others to think I was playing favourites.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“Someone may have told me you skipped breakfast,” he admitted, “And I just—I have you doing a lot of work—so I thought—”

The gesture made Felicity’s stomach flip. Along with Oliver’s obvious nervousness at presenting her with breakfast.

“I appreciate it,” she said, lifting the mug to her lips. The coffee was made perfect, of course it was, “Even though I’m going to yell at John for being a narc.”

“Don’t be mad, he’s just looking out for you,” he nodded to the computers, “I know you have a lot going on, but I was just wondering, have you found anything? With… William?”

It was something he asked her to start the day they had been released from ARGUS’s medical centre. He was sure that was the reason Adrian locked them in the bunker together.

Felicity set her mug down and pulled up her search.

“Actually, no,” she said, “I’m having some trouble finding him, I think Samantha did a really good job of hiding herself and William.”

Times like these she really missed Helix’s cellphone camera access.

“Okay,” Oliver exhaled, some of the tension eased off his shoulders, “If Felicity Smoak can’t find him, I feel better about Chase not being able to.”

He placed a hand on her shoulder.

“I have to get going, but thank you,” he pointed to the pastry, “Make sure you eat that.”

Felicity couldn’t stop the face-splitting smile as she watched Oliver leave.

* * *

Felicity continued working on any leads with the released convicts all afternoon, until she got a distressed call from Oliver.

“SCPD ran checks on the body,” he said, his voice sounded strained, “They found out the concrete came from a subsidiary of Queen Consolidated. And—and DNA under Goodwin’s fingernails.”

At the tone of his voice, Felicity gathered that whatever Oliver found out wasn’t good.

“And…?” she asked.

“It—the DNA matches my father.”

Felicity closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair.

Oliver’s relationship with his father was a deeply complicated one, Felicity knew that from when she first met him and watched as he crossed names off Robert’s list. Oliver opened up to her about some of it, but there was a lot that went unspoken and was made only clear through the guilt that picked at Oliver whenever he felt he was failing the mission he started in his father’s name.

“Oliver,” she said softly, “I’m so sorry.”

“This… It has to be Chase, setting me up in another one of these games,” Oliver said insistently, “I know it. I’m just worried that the SCPD is going to make this information public before I can get out ahead of it.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Well, Thea seems to think—”

“Thea’s back?” Felicity asked, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to cut you off, but when did that happen?”

“I asked her to come back after the bunker incident,” Oliver sighed, “Just to keep her close in case Chase tried anything.”

“Is she doing any better?” The last time Felicity saw Thea, the two of them were caught up in some pretty deep scheming, but Thea left town after Oliver’s impeachment hearings. All Oliver said was that his sister needed some time for herself.

“She probably would be better if she hadn’t heard about our father the minute she came back,” Oliver sighed. Felicity winced. “She asked about you, by the way, since she heard about Chase.”

Felicity made a mental note to call Thea whenever she got a break from all the work.

“Anyway, I just wanted to ask if you looked at the evidence the SCPD had and picked anything up,” he asked.

Felicity straightened her back and pulled up the searches.

“I did,” she said, “I ran the gas chromatograph on the concrete and found traces of soil with high levels of copper concentration.”

“Okay, and?”

“I read the SCPD’s initial report about the concrete being linked to your family’s company, so I cross-referenced Queen Consolidated construction locations with areas in the city rich in copper.”

“So you think you know where Goodwin was killed?” he asked, hope in his voice.

“I do,” Felicity almost did a little fist pump at bringing his mood up, “A building called Oliver Enterprises?”

“Yeah,” Oliver sounded uncomfortable, “My father bought it for me when I was younger.”

Felicity fought a smile at the image of him standing in front of that building today, looking uneasy.

“Well apparently, it was shut down a month ago because of a toxic gas leak.”

“Huh.” Felicity could hear the wheels turning in Oliver’s voice.

“My thoughts exactly. I’ll send you an address and have Dig meet you there. The others are staking out Sampson tonight.”

“Got it,” he said, “We’ll be able to handle that. If you can focus on looking for William again, I—”

“You still think that’s Adrian’s play?” Felicity asked.

Oliver sighed in frustration.

“I just can’t help but feel like this—the felons, the body, it’s all a distraction from something more.”

“I’m on it,” Felicity said, “Stay safe tonight.”

“Always am.”

* * *

He was not as careful as he promised.

Felicity wondered what the appropriate amount of time after being nearly buried alive in concrete was for a lecture on the idea of safe. And now she still needed to have a word with Diggle about narking her out _and_ being nearly buried alive in concrete with Oliver.

Either way, she didn’t have much time to dwell on it, because she had to figure out how Adrian and Derek Sampson found time to start working together to recreate the weaponized tuberculosis Justin Claybourne once tried to release five years before.

She had to hand it to Adrian—once he picked a theme, he really stuck with it.

Oliver tasked her with handling the chemical outbreak while he and Thea followed a lead on Goodwin’s lawyer, who apparently also once represented Adrian’s father.

That was why, when she found him hanging around the bunker while everyone went for dinner before the mission, she was surprised.

He stared intently at the screen of a laptop resting on the table. An unfamiliar voice floated through the speakers.

 _“You can right my wrongs. You can be better than I was. You can_ save _this city._ ”

Felicity whistled a little as she walked over. She had an idea as to who that was.

“No pressure, though, right?” she joked, sinking into the empty seat next to Oliver. “Is this the video you said your father left for you?”

Oliver nodded slowly.

“Yeah. He left one for Thea too,” he said, eyes still on the screen, “But I never showed it to her.”

Felicity’s eyebrows knitted together.

“Why not?”

“I never—I never wanted her to be burdened with something like that.”

Not in the way he had been—Felicity could read between the lines.

“So, why revisit it now?”

“Goodwin’s lawyer met with Chase,” he explained, “Gave us a flash drive and I asked Thea not to look at it. She didn’t listen, and she found security footage of my father pushing Goodwin into the concrete. That explains the DNA.”

He sighed heavily, wiping his fingers across his brow.

“I wanted to see how I missed it.”

“Missed what?”

“He’s a murderer,” Oliver said finally, “I mean, I knew about his involvement in the Undertaking, I never deluded myself into thinking the man was a saint but… the way he covered up Goodwin’s death…”

The doubt in Oliver’s voice weighed on her.

“Oliver,” she said softly, grabbing his arm where it rested on the table, “Has it occurred to you that this is exactly what Adrian wants you to be feeling right now?”

Oliver gave her a look that said _of course._

“Right,” she said, “From the beginning, Adrian’s wanted to destroy everything we’ve been doing down here. You know that.”

“That all started with my father,” Oliver gestured to the screen, “Everything— _everything_ we’ve done started to honor him. All it’s done is brought pain for people I care about.”

“Your father inspired you, yes,” she corrected, “But it’s become so much more than that. We’ve saved the city, and done so much good because of this mission. And despite what Adrian might have you believe, the people in your life are not suffering because you decided to be the Green Arrow. Their lives—my life, is better because you decided to be the Green Arrow.”

Felicity stopped, breathless by the end of her speech.

Oliver looked at her with shining eyes, as though he hadn’t expected her to say that much.

“Whenever you’re ready for it again, that is,” she finished with a whisper. They looked at the suit, where it hung from its spot among the others, except the light for his spot hadn’t been on in weeks.

“I know you’re right,” Oliver said, his voice hoarse, “You always are. I just—I feel like every time I take a step forward, the past pulls me back again.”

“Don’t let it,” Felicity said definitively, “You’re not living for your father anymore, you haven’t been for a long time.”

Oliver nodded.

“Look I—I know better than anyone that Adrian has his own special way of making you doubt who you are. How you feel like you’re losing your identity, your sense of self,” Felicity’s throat tightened as she spoke, “Don’t let him take it from you. He doesn’t get all of your hard work, all that time you spent saving the city.”

Her eyes were misty, and she blinked rapidly against the moisture. Oliver looked at her, mouth slightly parted, and he nodded slowly.

The computers beeping pulled them out of their conversation.

Felicity walked over to where one of her programs were running.

“What is it?” Oliver asked, clearing his throat.

“The trace I was running on chemical emissions came back with a location,” she said, “I’ll tell the team. You going to meet them there?”

Oliver nodded, turning away. She assumed he would reach for the black mask that rested on the conference table, but he surprised her by walking towards the dim corner of the bunker.

She tried not to grin too proudly as Oliver donned the familiar green suit. She could see the faint tremor in his hands as he zipped the jacket up his chest and lifted the hood over his head.

“What made you decide to put it back on?” she asked, watching him with a smile.

Oliver straightened his mask over his eyes and sent a shy smile her way.

“You just have a way with words.”

Felicity’s computers beeped, and she knew that was the others arriving on site and turning their comms on.

“You should get going,” she muttered.

Oliver nodded, pulling his quiver over his shoulders.

As he walked towards the exit, his back straight and his step the most confident it had been in weeks, he paused.

“Felicity?”

She turned from her chair.

“Yeah?”

“He doesn’t get all of your work for this city either,” Oliver said, “I hope you know that.”

Felicity felt her vision blur again.

“Claybourne’s lawyer gave me some information today I plan on using,” he continued, “I’m going to end this tonight.”

“Kick his ass,” Felicity said.

Oliver nodded. His head lowered as he left the bunker and she could see the tension set in as he squared his shoulders, ready for battle again as the Green Arrow.

* * *

One of Felicity’s least favourite parts of the job was listening to fights over the comms. Her back always tensed up, she felt like she couldn’t breathe when all she had in terms of updates were grunts and quick orders being barked.

She watched as the other’s locations were moving in on Sampson and his crew, while Oliver was in a separate stairwell where he demanded to take on Adrian alone.

Felicity wasn’t ashamed to admit that made her nervous, when going head to head with Adrian had never worked so much before.

But Oliver said he had a plan. So she trusted him.

Except he turned his comm off.

She didn’t know why he did that.

She knew this was his own doing rather than interference from Adrian—Oliver didn’t want Felicity to hear whatever he would say to Adrian to end it.

She waited. Tensely. She monitored the others’ fights carefully and made sure none of them were injured, but her mind was on the muted comm.

When Oliver’s line beeped to life, Felicity felt like she could breathe for the first time.

“He surrendered,” Oliver panted into the comm, “I have ARGUS agents taking him in now. We’re on our way.”

And just like that, it was over.

Felicity didn’t know what she expected. She hoped the relief would hit right away, rush through her in an exhilarating swoop and make her feel like peace belonged to her again.

That didn’t happen.

Instead, she sat frozen in place, a tremor in her hands as she listened to the rest of the team members handle Adrian’s arrest. When everyone agreed it was time to return to the bunker, she jumped up, wiping at a tear she hadn’t realized had fallen and gathered bottles of water and medical supplies just in case the fight was nasty.

The sound of the elevator doors opening made her spin around. Oliver stood with his hood lowered, the rest of the team behind him, wearing matching grins.

Oliver was the first to approach her.

“We got him,” he said simply. She found her feet moving on their own accord and met him halfway across the platform, throwing his arms around his neck.

His arms tightened around her back.

“It’s over,” he whispered again, this time into her ear, “It’s all over, Felicity.”

Felicity’s eyes felt wet as she sagged in relief against Oliver’s chest.

“Thank you,” she said, pulling him in impossibly closer. He pulled her in until her toes lifted off the ground.

The rest of the team shuffled behind them.

Diggle cleared his throat.

Felicity pulled away awkwardly, adjusting her glasses and ignoring how hot her face felt.

“Adrian Chase is warming a cell in ARGUS right now,” Diggle said, “I think that calls for a celebration.”

Felicity smiled.

“Here I thought you’d be bringing up all the other criminals that are still on the streets,” she retorted.

“We should be thinking about all of that,” Oliver spoke up, and Rene groaned in response, “ _Later_. For now, we should enjoy this win.”

Everyone smiled. The relief around the room was palpable.

“First round is on me,” Diggle declared, “Let’s get changed.”

The team walked towards their changing areas, but Oliver lingered behind.

“Not in a celebrating mood?” Felicity asked.

Oliver looked down, shaking his head.

“I was thinking that I need to come clean to Thea about a few things,” he said, “About our father.”

Felicity nodded.

“Just remember that you need to enjoy this win too,” she reminded him softly, “It was all because of you.”

“I couldn’t do it without you in my corner,” he said.

From the elevators, Curtis called her name.

“You coming or what?” he asked.

Oliver gently jerked his chin to the exit.

“Go,” he said, “You deserve it. I’ll call you later.”

Felicity nodded, walking to where the others were waiting and paused to glance over her shoulder.

Oliver didn’t look as defeated as he had some days in pursuit of Adrian, but he didn’t quite wear the victory as easily as the others did. Felicity wondered if it had to do with the weight of everything about his father coming out that week.

She would remember to bring it up when they talked about it later, just as he promised.

It was finally time for them to move on.

* * *

… Except, moving on was not as easy as she had hoped.

Who would have thought, right?

For one thing, Felicity had to pack up her things from Diggle’s guest room and return back home.

Or, that’s what she told him. Most days she spent idly in the bunker running pointless searches on low level criminals until it was the morning, and someone else would show up to train.

She didn’t want to admit that she was still a little wigged out at the idea of being alone.

All of this meant she was running on fumes most days, so when Thea asked to meet her over coffee, Felicity was grateful for the chance to refuel—and spend some time with a non-Team Arrow member (even if she was a former-and-still-honorary member).

They met at a little place not too far from City Hall over Thea’s lunch break.

“So how are things at work?” Felicity asked once they sat with their drinks.

“Good,” Thea nodded, “A little quiet as the stuff with Chase settles down. Oliver’s approval rating’s never been higher since the Green Arrow and his team took the Throwing Star Killer down.”

Felicity smiled. She was glad to hear that.

“Good, he deserves that.”

“I think the whole team does,” Thea said with a pointed look, “They must have worked really hard to take him down.”

Felicity shifted uncomfortable and tried not to wave it off.

“I’m sure they miss having,” she paused, cognizant of the people around them, “Former members of their team around, too. And would always be willing to take them back.”

Thea sighed.

“I didn’t come here to talk about that,” she said quickly, “I actually had something else in mind. Next week is Ollie’s birthday.”

Felicity paused over her drink, unsure of what to say to that.

Thea sensed the shift in her mood and immediately frowned.

“Sorry,” she said quickly, “I guess I should have asked how things are between you two, but Ollie said things were good, so I thought—”

“Things are good,” Felicity said quickly. The corners of her mouth twitched upwards almost automatically as she spoke. “Really good. Like—just, so good. You just caught me off guard.”

“Okay,” Thea perked up again, “How good is good? Like, back together good?”

The smile she wore could only be described as scheming.

“No Thea, we’re just… Good,” they used the word so much in this conversation, it was beginning to lose its meaning, “We need a little—a _lot_ of time to figure things out, but we’re getting there.”

Thea nodded.

“Right,” she said, “With Adrian—I never asked, but I know you two were, like, dating—”

“It’s okay,” Felicity said quickly. Like Thea and the topic of putting on a mask again, this wasn’t something Felicity cared to talk about at the moment. “You said something about Oliver’s birthday?”

“I did,” Thea folded her hands over the table, “I want to do something nice for his birthday, we haven’t had a chance to celebrate it… Probably since before the island, and those celebrations weren’t exactly memorable. I thought, after everything this year it would be nice to have a little party.”

“That sounds like a great idea, Thea,” Felicity responded, “So, like, a dinner?”

Thea winced.

“I had something a little bigger in mind,” she said, “It’d still just be the team, obviously, but what if we did a little surprise party?”

“A surprise party?” Felicity echoed, “Really?”

Thea nodded eagerly.

“It would be so much fun,” she said, “I already started planning it, and I have it all figured out, I just need your help with a few things.”

Felicity wondered if surprising a man like Oliver was the best course of action. But she was also starting to see why Oliver always said he had a hard time denying his sister anything all those years—the look on Thea’s face told Felicity that she needed this party just as much as Oliver did.

“Okay,” she said hesitantly.

“Awesome,” Thea clapped her hands together, “So, sometime this week, ask him out for dinner.”

Felicity took the wrong moment to take a sip of her coffee. It nearly went down the wrong pipe, but she caught herself.

“Excuse me?” she coughed.

“We need to get him somewhere without raising any suspicion,” Thea said simply, “Ask him if he wants to have dinner with you on his birthday.”

Felicity bit her lip.

“Thea… I think he’s going to get the wrong idea if I say that.”

Thea waved a hand in the air.

“It’s not like you guys are already on your way there,” she said, “Am I wrong?”

Felicity shifted in her chair.

“… Not exactly,” she mumbled. These Queens only brought her trouble. “Okay. Fine, I’ll call him about it later.

Thea grinned.

“Perfect. Now, let’s talk venue… It should be private, so no one disturbs us… The bunker? You guys spend all of your time there, though, it’s pretty boring.”

Felicity thought of her loft, where it had been collecting dust for the past two months and hadn’t had a happy occasion in there in over a year.

“I have a place in mind,” she said simply.

* * *

Felicity dreaded having to call Oliver for the party.

As predicted, he got the wrong idea right away. She could hear it in the way he stumbled over his words on the phone and said he’d love to go to dinner with her—and that he would not mind picking her up.

If she wasn’t already on her way to hell, this would send her there for sure.

On the day of, the rest of the team gathered in her apartment to decorate. Curtis volunteered to handle it, and of course bought all of the green decorations he could get his hands on. Her loft now looked like the Grinch had thrown up in it.

Not in a Christmasy way. Of course. Just… A lot more green than Felicity ever cared to see in her life.

Thea texted her that Oliver seemed excited at City Hall that morning, and it only made the pit in her stomach grow.

The party went about as well as she could have imagined—as predicted, Oliver didn’t take to being surprised well, but Felicity decided not to point that out to Thea. Everyone mingled, feeling relaxed for the first time since the name Prometheus popped up on their radars last fall.

It was nice.

Rene and Dinah didn’t make it—which was odd, because even if they couldn’t they would have given a call. Felicity made a note to check in on them later to see if everything was alright.

Cake was cut, toasts were made, and eventually people started clearing out.

Curtis and Thea stayed last and helped Felicity clear out the kitchen while Oliver gathered the champagne glasses in the living room and brought them over.

“Uh,” Thea suddenly looked nervous, “It’s pretty late. I think we should get going. Curtis?”

“Oh, no,” Curtis waved, “There’s still so much left, we shouldn’t leave Felicity to clean all of this herself.”

Thea looked pointedly at him.

“I think she’ll be fine,” she said with bite in her tone.

Curtis looked blankly around the room, and slowly his mouth formed an o.

“R-right. Okay. Let’s get going,” Curtis grabbed his coat and walked towards the door, “I’ll see you guys… Later?”

Felicity resisted the urge to groan out loud at the complete lack of subtlety.

“See you,” Thea said, shaking her head with a smile as she followed Curtis out the exit. Her voice dropped to a whisper, “Now might be a nice time to _talk_.”

She looked pointedly over Felicity’s shoulder, where Oliver was still cleaning some of the stray garbage left behind.

“Bye Thea,” Felicity said, all but pushing the other girl out the door.

Before she turned back, she exhaled deeply at the idea of being alone with Oliver for the first time in a week.  She smoothed over the skirt of her red dress nervously and touched her carefully gathered curls once or twice as she made her way over.

“That was subtle,” Oliver commented over her kitchen sink.

She rolled her eyes.

“So subtle,” she sighed, “I think Thea feels bad about the dinner ruse thing and thinks we need some alone time.”

“Do we?” Oliver asked, his face kept blank except for the hint of uncertainty in his eyes.

“I—I mean, I don’t know,” she said, “Maybe. We’ve been pretty busy, and I know we kind of agreed to put things on hold until we got Adrian…”

“We did,” Oliver agreed.

“Maybe,” Felicity’s fingers tangled together over her stomach, “Maybe we can take things one step at a time?”

Oliver’s eyes lit up in her favourite way.

“I would like that very much.”

“Good,” Felicity breathed.

She didn’t know they started standing so close until her shoulder brushed against his arm. She took a step back.

“I am sorry about that, by the way,” she said quickly, “The dinner thing. It was totally Thea’s scheme. I think it was her idea of being clever.”

Oliver looked down and chuckled.

“It sounds like her,” he admitted.

They didn’t say anything for a moment. The only sound in the loft was Felicity wiping the counters.

“So why did you do it?” Oliver asked eventually.

“The date?” Felicity winced.

Oliver shook his head.

“The—this,” he looked around the loft, still adorned with dollar store green decorations, “The whole party. For me.”

His nose wrinkled a little at the end of his sentence, as though he couldn’t see why he would deserve even this small cake-and-champagne get together in his honor.

“At first, when Thea approached me about it, I wondered if it was too soon,” she admitted, “But…”

“But?”

“I don’t know,” Felicity brushed her hair back, looking down, “I was hoping to find… something. Some positivity now that Adrian is finally away, and this insane year can finally calm down and… I just wanted to make this place have some more happy memories again.”

“You were always good at finding the optimism,” Oliver commented.

Felicity kept her eyes on her feet, a bitter smile fighting at her lips at how wrong that statement felt.

“I’m working on it,” she said eventually.

“Hey,” Oliver said gently. The familiarity in his tone made her find the strength to look up, “I know it seems hard, and you wont easily forget what Chase did to you, but I promise you’ll be able to get through it.”

Felicity wondered if she had ‘I have nightmares about Adrian breaking out of ARGUS prison’ tattooed on her face.

Or if it was just Oliver—always Oliver, knowing her best.

“We will,” she said, emphasizing the plurality. Daringly, she took a step closer, “Together.”

They were close enough that, in her heels and Oliver’s relaxed stance, their noses nearly brushed together. She could feel his breath brushing over her face and her eyes dropped to his lips before she sharply met his eyes again.

“Together,” he repeated. If he sensed the rapid change in her mood, he immediately picked up on it. His hand fell on her waist, tentatively brushing his thumb back and forth against her hip. Felicity’s head spun at the combination of feelings, of his tender, questioning look and the warmth his touch brought.

Last year, when they had their _moment_ together in the bunker, she jumped head first, and let herself get swept in the feeling. Of him. But this time, they had been working so tentatively over the past few weeks, that throwing caution to the wind now seemed wrong. They were long overdue for a dozen more heavy conversations, delving in the post-mortem of their engagement, there was William, and Chase…

But Oliver’s eyes dropped to her lips, and she struggled to remember _why_ kissing the man she loved was such a bad idea in the first place.

They moved in sync, like they always did, bridging the tiny gap of air that still floated between them, closer, closer—

Until the sharp vibration of Felicity’s phone against the kitchen counter snapped both of them back into reality.

Felicity looked to the screen, while Oliver leaned on the counter behind her and exhaled slowly.

“Curtis,” she answered with a little bit of bite in her voice. She was going to wring his neck the next time she saw him—once she acquired a step ladder or something.

“Hey,” the offender himself chirped on the other line, “I’m just calling to check in, how did it go, with, _you know_??”

Felicity walked to the other room before Oliver could hear anything embarrassing—more embarrassing— and clenched her jaw.

“Fine. Just fine,” she said shortly.

“And Oliver?”

She glanced over her shoulder, where Oliver now had a glass of water and pointedly avoided her gaze by looking out the window.

“Still here,” she muttered through gritted teeth.

“Oh… _Oh!_ I totally interrupted _a thing_ didn’t I?” he asked, “Like, a _thing_?”

“I don’t know, Curtis,” Felicity pressed the heel of her palm into her forehead.

“That’s, yeah, that’s my bad. I should have waited until tomorrow morning, I mean, with the way you two were all heart eyes through the whole party, and the way you dressed up for each other, I mean—”

“Was there a reason for this call?” Felicity cut off, before he could make her turn more red with any implications that would slip out, “Other than being exceptionally nosy about my personal life?”

“Yeah, actually, I also wanted to let you know that I’m on my way to Dinah’s to drop off the modulator I whipped up for her, and maybe to find out why she couldn’t make it tonight. So—oh no.”

“What is it?” Felicity’s back tensed at the change in his tone.

“The door is open… the windows… I think she might have been robbed.”

“Robbed?” Felicity repeated. The word caught Oliver’s attention and he walked over, shoulders tensed, “Do you want some backup?”

“I probably will, but I’m here now, let me see if she’s okay,” Curtis said quietly.

“What is it?” Oliver whispered.

“Curtis went to Dinah’s to see why she couldn’t make it tonight,” Felicity answered quickly, hearing as Curtis called out for their friend on the other line, “But the door was open and the windows…”

There was a loud thud on the other line that cut off her sentence, and glass breaking.

Felicity’s eyes widened, and she put the phone on speaker.

“Oh, god,” Curtis groaned.

“Curtis? What happened?” Oliver asked.

There was no response on the other end.

Oliver grabbed his coat.

“I’m going over there,” he said quickly, “Call Digg for backup?”

Felicity was already dialing.

“Be careful,” she said hesitantly, making him pause under the door frame. They didn’t know what this was, it certainly wasn’t Adrian, but that only worried her more.

Oliver gave her a loaded look, one that said he knew exactly how she had been feeling—especially with the added weight of their interrupted moment.

Then he was gone.

* * *

Oliver picked her up from the bunker later. Diggle drove, he sat in the passenger seat and Felicity climbed in the back. It felt a little like old times.

“It’s Chase,” Oliver said definitively, “When he had me, I told him the team is my strength. And now, for Rene, Dinah and Curtis to go missing at the same time? It has to be a play. He’s picking everyone off one by one.”

Felicity’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Not to point out the exceedingly obvious, but Adrian’s in an impenetrable glass cell right now, isn’t he? How would this be his move?”

“He had allies,” John pointed out with a sigh.

“Black Siren’s locked up at ARGUS too,” she argued, “I don’t see Evelyn pulling this off by herself.”

“Talia Al Ghul,” Oliver said, “And whatever League resources she still has. I should have known it wouldn’t be this easy”

His jaw was tight. Felicity could tell he regretted making Talia angry.

“Okay,” Felicity processed the information with a nod, “Okay. So, where are we going now?”

Diggle made a turn into a familiar building that Felicity really did not enjoy frequenting. The ARGUS agent by the gate let them through with a bored glance.

“Now,” Oliver clicked his seatbelt loose, “I’m going to have a chat with Adrian Chase.”

The thought of being in the same building as Adrian, no matter how far they would be, made Felicity’s chest tighten with nerves.

“And that requires me here, because…?”

Oliver looked down. His jaw ticked again, and she knew he was struggling to find the words.

“If Chase is having us picked off one by one, it’s better if we all stuck together from here on out. I had Thea and Lance moved to a safehouse across town.”

Felicity didn’t know what to make of that. She wondered why he hadn’t shipped her off to a safehouse as well, but she decided against voicing that thought.

For other reasons that she didn’t get, the idea of Diggle and Felicity waiting outside while Oliver talked to Adrian made him anxious. So the three of them walked down the empty hall together.

Adrian saw them approaching and grinned.

“Hey Ace,” he gave her a little wave.

She knew he couldn’t hurt her then, not with the (presumably) bulletproof glass between them, but his use of the endearment made steel her gaze, despite everything in her wanting to look down to avoid his eyes.

“Where are they?” Oliver demanded, crossing his arms against his chest.

“Who?” Adrian asked innocently.

Oliver’s fingers twitched into an angry fist.

“You know—”

“ _You know damn well who_ ” Adrian mocked, frowning and deepening his voice to match Oliver’s tone. He grinned and returned to normal, “You’re right. I know what you mean, just like I know every one of your moves but you’re _still_ just catching up.”

Oliver had no patience for Adrian’s games.

“Tell me where they are, or—”

“Or, what?” Adrian tilted his head, “We’ve already established you won’t kill me.”

Oliver exhaled noisily.

“I’ll find them,” he said, “You won’t be able to hurt anyone else any longer.”

“Is that what you came here to tell me?” Adrian asked, “Sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself more than anything. But whatever floats your boat.”

He chuckled, like there was a private joke the three of them were missing out on.

“This is useless. We’re leaving,” Oliver muttered to Digg and Felicity. Felicity could not be more glad to hear that.

“See you later,” Adrian called out behind them, “You too, Felicity.”

It sent shivers up her back. She willed herself not to turn her neck back to look at him as they walked out.

Something told her he was right—they would be seeing each other again soon.

* * *

They were back in the car before Oliver found his voice again. This time he was driving, Felicity sat in the passenger side and Diggle was rifling through a black duffle bag in the back seat.

“Okay, what now?” she dared to ask.

“We need to get back to the bunker,” Oliver said, “Get some more supplies.”

He gestured to Diggle in the back.

Felicity nodded.

“Right,” she said absently, “Good idea. I needed to get some things to pack up, too.”

Oliver glanced at her quickly, but kept his eyes on the road.

“What?”

“Wh—for the safehouse,” she explained, “I’m not going there without my tablet or something, so I can still work remotely.”

Oliver paused at a red light. He took the time to angle himself towards her.

“I don’t want you in the safehouse,” he said, his voice dropping an octave, “I want you down there, in the bunker, with me.”

“What? Oliver, Adrian has the League working for him. And, if Merlyn’s taught us anything, the League really treats our bunker’s locks more like suggestions.”

“I can handle Talia and whatever acolytes she’s fighting with,” he insisted, “But I need you down there with me so both of us can try and stop Chase.”

Felicity paused. She wondered if it was the right time to do this, to ask this of him, but something in his expression pushed her.

“That’s what this is?” she asked quietly, challengingly, “Tactic?”

Oliver looked to the ceiling, and when his eyes met her again, they looked glassier against the dim street lights.

“You know it’s not just that. Please. I can’t have you leave.”

The light turned green ahead of them. When Oliver didn’t accelerate right away, the car behind him honked.

Oliver started driving. No one said anything until they were down at the bunker.

“I let my guard down,” he said eventually, looking at Felicity and Digg, “I shouldn’t have. Now we’re all in danger, again. I’m sorry.”

“No one could have seen this coming, Oliver,” Diggle said patiently, “We all thought this was over.”

“I should have. I—it was all too easy. He wanted to surrender so that we’d think we were safe again. Now everyone I care about is in danger, including you guys, including—”

He broke off, looking down.

“You’re worried about William,” Felicity guessed.

Oliver said nothing, but he didn’t need to.

“Oliver, I couldn’t find him, there’s no way Chase or Talia al Ghul would be able to either. William’s going to be fine.”

Oliver didn’t look like he believed her.

Felicity’s computer started beeping rapidly, pulling them out of the conversation and towards her monitors.

“What is it?” Diggle asked.

“Remember the trackers I put in Black Siren earlier this year?” Felicity asked, “I have a program running to see if her activity got suspicious, know you, anything outside of her ARGUS cell, and it shows she escaped.”

“That can’t be a coincidence,” Diggle said with a frown.

“She’ll probably be on her way to find Quentin,” Felicity paused, “We never told him about not-Laurel.”

“Chase will send her right there,” Oliver said, “We need to get the safehouse on the phone right now.”

* * *

The three of them worked in the bunker, quietly tracking leads and preparing weaponry. There was a tension in the air that had been gone for the past week. Everyone kept one eye warily to the door, as though waiting until someone in League gear burst through.

When the footage came through of Black Siren and a very confused Thea and Quentin, followed by a regretful phone call from the agents meant to be protecting them, Oliver swore and decided he needed to visit Chase again.

This time, he didn’t take Felicity and Diggle with them.

When he returned to the bunker, his anger was barely contained.

“How did it go?” Diggle dared to ask.

Oliver shook his head.

“Just more games. He offered me a deal, before he gets transferred to Idaho tonight,” he said, “If I let him go, he’d tell me where everyone is.”

“That sounds like a trap if I ever heard one,” Felicity said.

Oliver nodded absently.

“You two have to leave the city,” he said with finality. His face was blank, in a way that Felicity knew from experience was an expression he was fighting to keep levelled. He was hiding how he really felt.

She blinked.

“What?”

“You—you’ve got to leave the city, leave the _state_ , and you can’t tell me where it is you’re going.”

 “Earlier today you said we had to find everyone _together,_ ” she pointed out, “That we shouldn’t separate.”

Though she had been all for it before, now the urgency at which Oliver was pushing them away made her nervous.

Diggle nodded, crossing his arms.

“We’re not just going to abandon you.”

“I understand that you’re not abandoning me,” Oliver said, “You’re doing what I’m asking because—Chase knows how I think. He knows that if I threaten either of you, my instinct is going to be to keep you close. We need to do something he’s not expecting.”

Felicity wondered how _this_ conversation wasn’t simply playing into Adrian’s games. She didn’t voice that concern.

She found her feet stepping closer to Oliver.

“What about you?” she asked quietly. Adrian took Oliver from her before, hurt him in ways Oliver still couldn’t talk about. If they left, and Oliver got hurt again—she wouldn’t be able to bear it.

“I’m going to put my focus on finding the others,” he said, “Knowing you’re safe will help.”

His hands tangled in hers, pressing gently in reassurance.

“I’ll be okay,” he whispered.

John walked over, his hand fell on Felicity’s shoulder, and all the fight left her.

She knew they had to go.

* * *

In the car, John and Felicity were silent. She debated fiddling with the radio, but her hands were firmly in her lap, picking at her chipped nail polish.

“You’re quiet,” John eventually commented, as they merged onto the freeway, “What’s bothering you?”

“I have a bad feeling,” she said, “Right in the pit of my stomach.”

“You don’t think we should have left Oliver alone.”

It wasn’t a question.

“Not at all,” she said. Everything about this just felt… wrong. Off.

“I agree with you,” he said with a sigh, “Leaving him alone feels wrong. But maybe that’s why it was the right thing to do.”

She sent him a glare.

“You realize how backwards that sounds, right?”

John nodded solemnly.

“I do, but this is Chase we’re dealing with.”

“I know, I know,” Felicity brushed loose strands of her hair back, “But what if we’re overthinking all of this, and we just left Oliver alone and vulnerable?”

“Oliver can handle just about anything.”

The image of his bare chest, burnt and bleeding, flashed in her mind.

Just about anything.

She wanted to respond, but John slamming the breaks and sending the car skidding along the empty freeway stole the moment. Both of them fell forward against their seatbelts.

A small collection of people dressed in black—assassins, if she had to bet—were now littered on the road. Leading the pack was a woman Felicity didn’t recognize, but she assumed it was the Talia person Oliver kept mentioning.

Diggle didn’t hesitate in shifting gears and accelerating towards the group. The tires screeched with a horrible sound, except when he charged at the assassins, Talia pulled her swords out—major Isabel Rochev vibes—and slashed the car.

It sent the car flying, crashing into the pavement that made Felicity see black spots.

Diggle helped her out of the damaged car.

“You okay?” he asked, inspecting her head. It felt wet, she knew there was blood there.

Dark shadows surrounded them before she could answer. Diggle’s gun was already poised in his hands, but it was too late.

The number of League people seemed to multiply around them. Talia’s sword was arched under Felicity’s chin.

“Felicity Smoak, John Diggle?” she asked, in a poised, calm voice that reminded Felicity of her sister, “You’ll be coming with us.”

It went unspoken that it was one of those _come with me if you want to live_ moments, but far less cool.

John sent her an apologetic look as his hands got held behind his back and they were pushed forward.

“I told you I had a bad feeling,” she muttered. It was the last thing they could say to each other before the bags fell over their heads.

* * *

At some point, Felicity passed out.

She knew herself well enough to realize it was a reaction to the stress of the day catching up to her. It wasn’t like she could see anything anyway. Their captors led them on, quite aggressively, up a set of narrow stairs (she could tell by the way her feet dragged), and the eventual pressure in her ears told her they were on a plane.

That worried her. They could be going anywhere, and planes meant it would be harder for Oliver to find them.

That was around the time she blacked out.

She came to when she had been picked up again. That meant they made it to their destination, but she had no idea how long that took exactly.

She landed on the hard ground, and the sack around her head was finally lifted.

The sudden exposure to bright sunlight made her squint. Diggle landed beside her and she leaned on him, hands still bound.

Felicity looked around the forest, the thick foliage reminded her of one place, but she hoped to god she was wrong with her suspicion.

“You okay?” he whispered.

“Fine,” she said absently, ignoring that the throbbing in her head from the car accident had only gotten worse, “You?”

John rattled at his bound hands angrily, as if his rage alone could set him free.

“Diggle? Felicity?” a voice called.

Felicity looked to their left. Curtis, Quentin and Thea were waiting, hands also bound together and looking annoyed.

But thankfully, they were all unharmed.

“Everyone okay?” Diggle called.

Thea and Curtis nodded. Quentin grunted.

“A little north of pissed off, but sure.”

The sound of footsteps crunching against twigs on the forest floor made them all pause.

“Oh, relax,” Adrian said. He wasn’t in the yellow prison jumpsuit Felicity last saw him in, but his Prometheus getup, sans-mask. Sometime between her and Diggle’s kidnapping, he got out.

She wondered if it had something to do with that deal he offered to Oliver.

“Oliver’s gonna come for us,” Thea said angrily, “You’ve made a mistake.”

“That’s kind of the plan, Thea Queen,” Adrian said with a smile, “Now, all of you can enjoy this nice tropical weather—so different from Star City, isn’t it? —but I need to borrow someone.”

He walked forward, pausing in front of Felicity. Diggle automatically shifted his shoulders so that he was slightly ahead of her, protecting her despite the handcuffs behind his back.

“Hey, Ace,” Adrian said. His voice dropped down to a tone that, on anyone else, would seem soft and caring, “You’re coming with me.”

“Where are you taking her?” Diggle demanded.

“Oh, don’t worry, I just want to catch up with my girlfriend.”

The others started protesting as he grabbed Felicity’s arm and forced her up. The panic in their voices increased as he began walking away—Felicity in tow—but she kept the fear off her face.

As they walked through the forest (well, Adrian walked, Felicity was led), Felicity tried to maintain her calm. As much as Adrian pretended like he was clever, she knew he was like every other supervillain she had come across. He wasn’t going to kill her unless Oliver was there.

Until then, she needed to keep her head on straight and figure out what Adrian’s game was.

Images of Oliver after his week missing flashed in her mind—was that his play? Hurting her? It was a possibility she had to prepare for, especially if her suspicions on where they were was correct, it would take Oliver at least a day to find them.

They walked until they reached a small beach, where a boat was docked in the water. Bound to the rails, in a thin hoodie and looking so terrified, was a young boy.

A boy Felicity recognized instantly—William.

So that was Adrian’s sick game.

“Get on,” Adrian said, shoving her forward.

William looked at her with wide, fearful eyes as she was forced in the space next to him.

“Hey, William,” she said in what she hoped was a comforting tone, “It’s going to be okay.”

William looked at her, probably wondering why a woman he had never met before knew his name, and said nothing.

“Wow,” Adrian said, “Oliver’s really made a liar out of you, huh?”

Felicity glared at him.

“So what’s the plan here?” she asked, fighting to keep the anger in her voice alive, “What’s so important that you had to involve a child?”

Adrian only smiled.

“You’ll see,” he said simply. He looked back onto the land, “It’s a nice place, you know. I don’t see how Oliver turned into such a monster here.”

For the first time since they climbed on the boat, Felicity dared to look back, where her suspicions were confirmed—

They were on Lian Yu.

Adrian took out a silver gun and started tapping it lightly against his thigh. William inhaled sharply at the sight, and Felicity automatically pulled her body in front of the young boy.

“And now,” Adrian said with a grin, “We wait.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: It started in Lian Yu.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> tumblr - overwatchandarrow  
> twitter - smoakoverwatch


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